As the year draws to a close, one is tempted to look back and offer a long sigh of relief. I mean, you just know that there will be more than one party on New Year’s Eve where the champagne glasses clink and the toast goes like this: “2009 —Good Riddance!”

Yup, it’s been a very tough year for a lot of people. Businesses suffered from plummeting sales, often discovering that they were unable to get loans to tide them over. Millions of individuals found themselves laid off and looking for work—work that seems to be harder to come by than ever. And we’re not out of the woods yet.

In early October, the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released a jobs market report stating that “Since the start of the recession, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment rate has doubled to 9.8 percent.” This is brutal stuff.

Still, I know that it’s going to get better. In fact, there are early signs that a substantial recovery is clearly on the horizon and that 2010 will be a year of economic growth.

According to Global Economic, Outlook Q4 2009, a new report from Deloitte Research, economic recovery is definitely in the cards. The firm’s chief economist, Carl Steidtmann, predicts that the U.S. recovery will be stronger than most analysts now expect, due to a combination of stimulatory factors and the fact that a strong rebound usually follows a deep recession (which this certainly has been). Steidtmann predicts that the recovery will not be traditional, however, and may have a few bumps due to lingering problems in housing, lagging bank credit, commercial property issues and possible inflation.

This outlook was bolstered in early November, when new preliminary economic figures were released by the U.S. Department of Commerce showing that real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009. The report states that the increase primarily reflects positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, exports, private inventory investment, federal government spending programs and residential fixed investment.

GDP has not been positive since the second quarter of 2008, and according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession, which began in December 2007, is all but officially over. Job growth will return soon, they say.

Within the signage and commercial graphics industry, there are also some signs that a significant turnaround is imminent—and this notion is reflected in a recent Sign Analytics survey of readers of Sign & Digital Graphics magazine that shows a positive outlook for months ahead (see story, page 83).

It seems the smarter businesses that have managed to survive this correction cycle are coming out on the other side leaner, meaner and often with considerably more market share. And I’m not just talking about the big equipment suppliers—I’m talking about all sign and graphics output providers that continue to make this a strong, healthy industry.

With apologies to The Beatles—one of my favorite groups of all time—2009 was like A Hard Day’s Night. But it looks like 2010 will be better. There certainly is some well-founded grounds for a hopeful future. Recovery will not be easy, and it’s not going to happen overnight—but it will happen.

I’ll leave you with a quote from another old Beatles song that sums up my feelings on the matter.
“I've got to admit it's getting better
A little better all the time (It can't get no worse).”

Okay, back to work.