By Edward Nawotka

Today’s lead story recounts three stores from publishing professionals who were fired during the ongoing economic recession. All three have subsequently found jobs, but only two of them in publishing.

Judging by the number of names and jobs titles that have been changed in my own contact list/address book, I would guess the number of people employed by publishing over the last few years has shrunk between 5-10% (and at some companies, significantly more).

With the industry confronting potentially radical changes brought on the by the advent of digitization and digital publishing, is it likely that publishing will full recoup the number of jobs lost since the last recession? To be more precise: will the industry recoup the same types of jobs lost — in marketing, editing, sales, publicity? Or will the business add altogether new positions — in online marketing, digital workflow solutions, e-book sales, and internet customer relations?

What’s more, will those positions, many of them lost in New York City, be remain in the traditional stronghold of publishing, or will they pop-up in unexpected parts of the country — Philadelphia, Lawrence, Austin, Madison — where young digi-workers can survive on contract work and one can easily telecommute from home?

How do you envision the publishing jobs scene of the future?

Let us know what you think in the comments below or via Twitter using #ppdiscuss.