SANTA CLARA, CA – Worldwide TV shipments fell almost 8% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2012, the steepest rate of decline since the second quarter of 2009, says NPD DisplaySearch.

Total TV shipments for the quarter were 51 million units. The biggest contributor to this decline was a slowdown in shipments of LCD TVs, which fell year-over-year for the first time in the history of the category, declining just over 3%, to 43 million units, the research firm says.

FRANKFURT – Germany's printed circuit board sales in March rose 7% sequentially, says ZVEI PCB and Electronic Systems.

Orders were weak year-over-year, however, the firm says.

The book-to-bill ratio reached 0.90, with backlogs well above the long-term average, says ZVEI.

Employee numbers increased slightly this year, but remain 3% below last year, with short-term contracts and temporary staff becoming more standard.