The creative industries supported 17,000 more jobs between April 2024 and March this year than the same period a year prior, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) data shows.
The number of filled roles leapt from 2,387,000 to 2,404,000, representing a 0.7% rise.
However, the figure is still down from the 2,457,000 jobs recorded between April 2022 and March 2023.
Jobs within the cultural sector also saw a 5% rise from the 2023/24 period, growing from 685,000 to 721,000 in the 12 months leading up to March this year.
That number bests the 696,000 cultural sector jobs recorded in the 2023/24 data, in an area encompassing roles in cultural education, music, film, the operation of historical sites and similar visitor attractions, and more.
Those working within the music, performing, and visual arts sub-sector, meanwhile, enjoyed a spurt of jobs growth, rising from 291,000 in 2023/24 to 309,000.
Others, however, were less fortunate, with publishing dipping from a total of 208,000 to 173,000.
Modest growth and slight dips
A number of the creative industry sub-sectors, which includes areas such as advertising and marketing, architecture, and film, TV, radio and photography, recorded a boost in filled jobs.
Design and designer fashion, for instance, rose by 2,000, from 143,000 to 145,000, while the film, TV, radio and photography category swelled by 9,000, reaching 268,000 filled positions this spring.
Advertising and marketing experienced a modest dip of 2,000 roles, while museums, libraries and galleries reported 9,000 more jobs, in a shift from 97,000 recorded in the 2023/24 period, to 106,000 a year later.
Libraries and archives, meanwhile, saw numbers shoot up — from 38,000 to 60,000.
Tracking employment changes in the creative industries
Government ambitions
The Labour government has made the creative industries a pillar of its ‘Plan for Growth”, seeing the area as ripe with potential for jobs creation.
In June, it outlined its modern industrial strategy, including the Creative Industries Sector Plan, which expresses ambitions of nearly doubling business investment in the sector by 2035 – from £17 billion to £31bn.
The move, the government has said, looks to “cement the UK’s position as a global creative superpower”.
Areas of focus include expanding awareness of the kinds of roles available via a Creative Careers Service and the development of further Creative Industries Clusters across the UK to accelerate research and development.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has previously said the plans will stimulate “private investment and create thousands more high-quality jobs”.
Union boss responds
Speaking in reaction to the most recent DCMS data drop, head of creative industries union Bectu, Philippa Childs, told Arts Professional: “This increase in the number of creative jobs is welcome and hopefully demonstrates the strength of what is an important sector for the UK economy. The government’s new industrial strategy for the creative industries should build on this and generate sustainable numbers of new high-quality jobs.”
But Childs warned: “There are still major issues in the industry around precarity and intermittency of work. Our recent survey showed that 30% of all creative industry workers were not currently working. And almost a third of all creative industry workers plan to leave the creative sector in five years’ time.
“As well as creating new jobs, policy makers and industry need to work to address the issues in this part of the labour market and make a lifelong career in the creative sector a viable and secure choice.”
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