Member Article

Employment grows across creative industries

Employment in the creative media industries has grown 2% over the last four years, according to a major industry Census.

Figures from Creative Skillset’s 2012 Employment Census show that while employment in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland has increased, the English workforce has reduced.

The Census surveyed major and smaller employees across television, animaton, computer games and commerical production, amongst other sectors.

The sector skills body said women now represent 36% of the total workforce, an increase of almost 16,000.

Freelancing remained constant at 24% and was much higher in production process areas such as radio production and games development.

Dinah Caine CBE, CEO of Creative Skillset, said: “This Census forms part of a wider remit of research enabling us to better understand the needs of the industry and address key skills gaps that exist.

“It is hugely positive that employment levels within the Creative Industries have grown despite the challenging economic climate. We welcome the increased representation of women within the workforce, however, clearly more needs to be done to encourage a greater diversity in our workforce. We will work closely with our partners including the Creative Diversity Network to help address the underrepresentation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people within the creative media industries.”

Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority representation across the industries continued to fall since the last Census, now standing at just 5.4% of the workforce.

The number of people described by their employers as disabled remained constant at 1%, however, in 2010 5.6% of the workforce reported they had a disability.

Professor Mike Campbell OBE, Chair of Creative Skillset’s Research Committee, said: “The Census provides insight into the changing composition of the industries’ employment patterns and geography over time. It includes up-to-date and detailed estimates of the size and shape of the creative media industries’ workforce, enabling companies to benchmark their own workforce against that of the industries as a whole and to target skills investments to specific needs.”

Andrew Harrison, CEO of RadioCentre, said: “The Creative Skillset Employment Census is a valuable tool for the radio industry and the wider media community. Understanding the size and shape of the Creative Industries workforce allows us to understand the resources available now and the skills we will need in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .