The Average Salary of Prepress Managers

Prepress technicians work to transform text and pictures into finished pages before they are printed. Most prepress jobs are found in the printing industry, but newspaper publishers are the second largest employers of prepress technicians and workers.

Average National Salary

The main factors that determine the wage rates for prepress operators are their employer, their level of education and their location. The median hourly wages of prepress operators were $16.84 in May, 2008. The lowest 10 percent of workers earned less than $10.01 per hour, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $26.30 per hour. Most prepress operators earn between $12.74 and $21.80 an hour.

Education Makes a Difference

Employers usually prefer a mixture of formal education and job experience. Some community colleges, junior colleges and technical schools offer two-year associate degree programs that teach the latest prepress skills and allow students to practice applying them. Some colleges and universities offer four-year bachelor's degree programs in graphic design. These advanced programs are aimed primarily at students who plan to move into management positions in printing or design. If a worker has experience in other printing techniques, they may be able to take a few college-level graphic communications courses to learn the skills necessary to qualify for a prepress job.

Other Qualifications

Good communication skills are essential for prepress operators, since they need to deal curiously and professionally with customers when problems arise. Prepress operators should be comfortable with electronics and computers and they should be able to perform computations to estimate job costs. They need need manual dexterity and accurate eyesight to find mistakes and locate potential problems. They need to be detail-minded and able to work independently. They need to withstand the pressures of meeting deadlines and they need to be willing to learn how to use new software and operate new equipment.

Employment Projections

Due to the growing use of computers and publishing software, the need for prepress operators will continue to decline. Currently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the demand for prepress operators will decline by 13 percent over the 2008 to 2018 period.

References

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Earnings: Prepress Technicians and Workers
• Payscale: Electroic Prepress Operator