Publishing

• The UK publishing industry has a turnover of £6bn, with export income accounting for almost 60% of revenues.

• The UK is the largest exporter of books in the world.

• The publishing industry directly employs 29,000 people in the UK and supports more than 70,000 jobs.

• The industry’s exports also generate a £1.1bn trade surplus annually, reducing the UK’s trade deficit by 2.2%.

• Publishing is the bedrock of the UK creative industries as a whole, with top films, TV shows and plays inspired first and foremost by books.

• 52% of the top 20 box office UK produced films were based on published material. These films grossed £1.5bn in UK box office revenue and £22.5bn globally, accounting for 61% of total UK box office gross and 65% globally

Source: Publishers Association website

Key workforce diversity findings:

• Over half of executive leadership and senior management roles are held by women (52% and 55% respectively). This compares to 49% and 41% in 2017. Females accounted for 64% of respondents.

• Representation of people from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups has remained around 13% since 2017. 3% of respondents identified as Black or Black British, 6% as Asian or Asian British, 3% as having mixed or multiple ethnicities and 1% of respondents identified as belonging to another minority ethnic group.

• LGBT+ representation continues to increase with 11% of respondents either identifying as lesbian, gay, or bi, or preferring to self-describe. This figure has more than doubled since 2017 (5%). 0.6% of respondents identified as trans.

• The representation of people with a disability has increased from 2% in 2017 to 8% in 2020.

• Almost half of respondents have experienced mental health problems. Compared to the previous year, this increased from 40% to 46%. At the time of the survey, one in five were currently experiencing mental health problems.

Source: The UK Publishing Workforce: Diversity, inclusion and belonging in 2020

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