Fewer than 50% of the traditional print media jobs that existed 15 years ago in the US still exist now, as digital media struggles to fill the gaps left behind.

According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the cuts have mostly affected newspaper publishers - the sloping blue line in the graph below.

Back in January 2001, the industry employed 411,800 people. In September 2016, that number had dropped to 173,709.

Overall the BLS data on the "information industry," which includes everything from newspaper publishers to book publishers to greeting card makers to online news makers, shows jobs went from 1,057,396 employees in January 2001 to 790,362 in September 2016. 

When it came to salaries within information industries in 2015, the average annual pay was $48,403 (€45,404) for the newspaper publishers industry and $56,332 for radio broadcasting.

Unsurprisingly, online and digital news employment prospects are on the rise. Jobs jumped from only 67,000 in January 2007 to 206,000 jobs in September 2016. 

In Ireland

According to a survey carried out by NNI, a total of 4,494 people were employed full-time in the newspaper industry in Ireland in 2011, including 3,419 people employed within publishing houses (of which 2,096 are editorial staff) and a further 1,075 work in printing and distribution.

Wages across the industry totaled €251.71m in 2011, with the average salary coming in at €56,010, representing the average between a freelance who is barely making a living, to those right at the top of the industry.

Freelance journalists and contributors were paid an additional €40m approximately in fees. In addition to turnover and employment figures, newspaper publishers purchased €272m worth of goods and services in the past year.