Bernhart Survey: Recession Easing Its Grip on Direct Marketing Employment

A record 402 companies responded to the random survey which was emailed the week of June 22.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, marketers - commercial and nonprofit - spent $176.9 billion on direct marketing in 2008, which accounted for 52.1 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $2.057 trillion in incremental sales. Last year, direct marketing accounted for approximately 10 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also, there are today 1.6 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 9.3 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 10.9 million US jobs.