There are some fascinating stats to pore over in Creative Skillset’s latest workforce survey, published today.
Based on feedback from almost 5,000 respondents, it provides insight into everything from working patterns, pay and socio economic backgrounds of people working in TV, film and the creative media sectors.
It reveals an industry that is increasingly educated (78% of the workforce have a degree, more than double the wider working population).
But the survey also provides hard figures to back up the widespread perception of the creative industries as a place where more needs to be done to boost diversity.
The survey reveals that unpaid work experience is still a common way of getting a job (48% have done this) and that informal networks are the most common way of recruiting (56% found out about their current or most recent role this way).
It also found that 15% of respondents attended an independent/fee-paying school (versus 7% for the UK population).
Creative Skillset Chief Executive Dinah Caine CBE says: “The evidence from the survey is clear. If our industries are to prosper, grow and reflect the markets they work in they need to up their game, open up paid entry routes and ensure that freelancers in particular are able to access affordable training and development. In addition we are urging companies to register on Hiive and post job opportunities that might otherwise have been limited to a chosen few.”
Key stats from the survey:
Entering the industry
– 78% of the workforce are educated to degree level. This marks a significant increase on 65% in 2010 and is more than double the 32% in the wider UK working population.
– 27% of the workforce hold a postgraduate qualification, up from 25%in 2010.
– 51% of those educated to degree level hold a creative/media degree, up from 37% in 2010.
– Only 1% of the workforce have undertaken an apprenticeship.
– 77% of people who have undertaken work experience have not been paid for it, a small fall on 2010 (80%).
– 41% of the creative media workforce undertook work experience before their first job (up from 37% in 2010).
– 48% have done unpaid work at some point in their career, up from 43% in 2010.
– 56% found out about their current or most recent role through informal recruitment methods. This is a significant increase on 2010 (46%).
Employment
– 30% of people working in the creative media industries are freelance, a rise from 28% in 2010. This varies by sector from just 9% in VFX to 90% in film production.
– Average annual income was £33,900 (a rise of 6% on 2010). Income ranged greatly from £45,900 in VFX to £23,150 in film. Permanent staff earn on average almost £11,000 more than freelance workers, while women earn £3,000 less than men.
Diversity
– 5% of the workforce stated that they have a disability. This figure has remained constant since 2003 and is significantly lower than the 11% across the wider UK working population.
– 63% of those with a disability have a training need, compared to an average of 47%.
– 52% of the workforce are aged over 35, this compares to 64% of the UK working population.
– 7% of the workforce identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), slightly higher than the total UK population (6%).
– 14% of the workforce attended an independent/fee-paying school, double the proportion of the UK population (7%)
The full survey is available to read here: http://creativeskillset.org/assets/0001/0465/Creative_Skillset_Creative_Media_Workforce_Survey_2014.pdf
Tim Dams
Share this story
