OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Format typescript and graphic elements using computer software to produce publication-ready material.
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Desktop publishers typically do the following:
- Review text, graphics, or other materials created by writers and designers
- Edit graphics, such as photographs or illustrations
- Import text and graphics into publishing software
- Integrate images and text to create cohesive pages
- Adjust text properties, such as size, column width, and spacing
- Revise layouts and make corrections as necessary
- Submit or upload final files for printing or online publishing
Desktop publishers use publishing software to create page layouts for print or electronic publication. They may edit text by correcting its spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Desktop publishers often work with other design, media, or marketing workers, including writers, editors, and graphic designers. For example, they work with graphic designers to come up with images that complement the text and fit the available space.
Salary
Median salary: $47,560 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $35,150 and $62,420.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for office and administrative support workers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Desktop Publishers
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of desktop publishers who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (100%)
- High Conflict Frequency (57%)
- Consequence of Error (31%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Desktop Publishers? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Artistic ability
Desktop publishers must have a good eye for how graphics and text will look, so that they can create pages that are visually appealing and legible.
Communication skills
Desktop publishers must collaborate with others, such as <a href="/ooh/media-and-communication/writers-and-authors.htm" title="Writers and Authors"><u>writers</u></a>, <a href="/ooh/media-and-communication/editors.htm" title="Editors"><u>editors</u></a>, and <a href="/ooh/arts-and-design/graphic-designers.htm" title="Graphic Designers"><u>graphic designers</u></a>, and communicate ideas effectively.
Detail oriented
Desktop publishers must pay attention to details such as margins, font sizes, and the overall appearance and accuracy of their work.
Organizational skills
Desktop publishers often work under strict deadlines and must be good at scheduling and prioritizing tasks in order to have documents ready in time for publication.
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by desktop publishers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), desktop publishers typically hold a associate's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as office and administrative support workers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for desktop publishers
Desktop publishers usually need an associate’s degree, often in graphic design or graphic communications. Community colleges and technical schools offer desktop-publishing courses, which teach students how to create electronic page layouts and format text and graphics with the use of desktop-publishing software.
Education level of Office and Administrative Support Workers
Only 38% of office and administrative support workers have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by office and administrative support workers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Office and Administrative Support Workers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most desktop publishers? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as desktop publishers. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where desktop publishers earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for office and administrative support workers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for office and administrative support workers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which office and administrative support workers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Office and Administrative Support Workers (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
16% of Office and administrative support workers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 16% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 59% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of office and administrative support workers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Office and administrative support workers and gender
With 75% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 84% of careers.
Gender of Office and administrative support workers
Men (25%)
Women (75%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for office and administrative support workers, with the
median salary for men 16%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Office and administrative support workers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Office and administrative support workers.
Race/origin of office and administrative support workers
White (73% )
Black (14% )
Asian (5% )
Other (3% )
Multiracial (2% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
