NEWS: UK has 2m creative jobs

UK has 2m Creative Industries Jobs

The number of jobs in the UK creative industries has topped two million for the first time under the current system of counting after expanding faster than the rest of the economy in 2017.

Official government data shows the creative industries workforce rose by 50,000 to just over 2,008,000 last year - a rise of 2.5 per cent compared to the average growth of 1.5 per cent in jobs across the UK economy.

Since 2011, the UK creative industries workforce has added almost half a million jobs - an increase of approximately 28 per cent. This makes it the fastest growing in employment of all the sectors overseen by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport between 2011 and 2017. Viewed on the last year alone, the creative industries grew jobs slower than smaller sectors such as the culture sector, digital segment or civil society, which comprised charities and non-profits.

Within the creative industries, the fastest-growing job segments related to tech-related roles. Other areas to have added jobs included film, TV and music, crafts and architecture, though in the performing and visual arts, the number of jobs fell last year.

When creative jobs that are outside the creative industries are also added in - to calculate the total of the UK's so-called creative economy - the total figure has reached 3,121,000. This represents a 2.8 per cent rise year on year.

The key driver of growth in creative industries employment is the 'IT, software and services' sub-sector. The sub-sector grew by 5.5 per cent last year, and has expanded by 47.5 per cent since 2011. However, the music, performing and visual arts segment experienced tougher job conditions, with employment falling by 3.1 per cent last year.

Since 2011, however, employment in all the creative industries has grown, except publishing which has shed just over 9 per cent of jobs.

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