Statistics on Cultural Industries - International Trade Centre

COMPONENT B - MODULE 3Component B - Module 3:Employment in the Cultural IndustriesObjectives••To develop a methodology for determining employment in the cultural industries.To determine changes in occupational patterns over the last 50 years in the cultural industriessector, in the Asia-Pacific region.Methodological NotesInformation about occupational levels and the total number of workers engaged in the creativeor cultural sector, as well as data on changes in occupational patterns over time, is valuable forpolicy makers because of the need to optimize the use of resources and effectively target needs.Information on the relationship between changes in occupational trends (from census data) andeducational and training trends (from national survey data) provide valuable indications of thechanges that are taking place in society.The information collected should include the size of the workforce, by occupational grouping,labour supply and labour-market participation rates, as well as wage rates and earnings. Data onearnings are likely to be especially relevant with regard to the artistic labour force, since grantsto artists are an important policy instrument in promoting the creative or cultural sector in manycountries of the Asia-Pacific region.The data sources for such information vary and can include establishment surveys, labour forcesurveys, and census data. In general, employment data for the cultural sector is more accuratelycaptured through Standard Industry Classifications (SIC) than through Standard OccupationalClassification (SOC), as SIC data provide information directly related to the industry rather than toprofessional training, which may or may not be consistent with a person’s occupation.Additional information is found in census data, which has the advantage of providing broadersocio-economic information on the employment situation of creative industry workers.Where census data is not available or is incomplete, the absence of reliable data can make it difficultto map activities in the cultural industries sector. The cultural industries sector is characterizedby high-levels of self-employment and small enterprises that are often part of the non-formaleconomy. Business and establishment surveys/inquiries do not usually collect data on thesebusinesses and only include a limited sampling of SMEs.Data CoverageFor the definition of the involved industries used in Module 3, refer to Annex 1 (occupation subsectorsgrouped by core copyright industries and by cultural manufacturing industries).36