- Creative industry jobs in the UK growing three times faster than EU average
- Sweden has highest proportion of workforce employed in creative jobs


New research from innovation foundation Nesta reveals that the UK accounts for 14 per cent of the total EU workforce but a fifth (21 per cent) of all creative industry jobs, with these roles growing three times faster in the UK than the EU as a whole.1

Nesta’s report, Creative Economy Employment in the UK and the EU, is the first consistent estimate of the size of the creative industries in all 28 EU countries and the wider ‘creative economies’ of 20 countries for which data is available. The ‘creative economy’ consists of jobs within the creative industries and creative jobs outside of these industries such as a designer working for a car manufacturer.

The findings shine a light on those economies best placed to weather automation - previous Nesta research shows that creative jobs are less likely to be displaced by computers and robots2   - and countries spearheading the growth of creative jobs.

The research found that the creative industries employ 11.4 million people in the EU, which accounts for 5 per cent of the total workforce, and 2,343,000 in the UK. The countries with the highest number of creative industry workers are Germany, which has the largest total workforce, the UK and France.

However, Sweden (8.9 per cent) has the highest proportion of its workforce employed in the creative industries, followed by Finland (8.2 per cent) and the UK (7.6 per cent). Sweden also has the highest proportion of its workforce employed in the creative economy (12 per cent) compared to 9.5 per cent in the UK.

The researchers also found that between 2011 and 2013 the UK’s creative industry jobs grew faster on average each year (6.1 per cent), than for the EU as a whole (1.8 per cent). Of the three largest EU economies - the UK, Germany and France - the UK was the fastest growing. Germany grew on average 1.6 per cent each year while France saw its creative industry workforce fall by -1.7 per cent per annum during this period.

Nesta has previously called for the creation of one million new creative jobs in the UK by 2035.3 Policy recommendations include education reforms to encourage STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) and a National Lottery distributor for games that would mimic the BFI.

Hasan Bakhshi, director of creative economy at Nesta, comments: “Our research maps creative employment in Europe on a consistent basis for the first time and reveals that these jobs account for a much larger proportion of the total workforce than previously thought. The report also points to the UK as a significant, and growing, contributor to Europe’s creative economy and we hope provides policymakers with the motivation to further support the growth of these jobs for the benefit of the economy.”

Creative Economy Employment in the UK and EU is available at www.nesta.org.uk. Nesta will publish new research into creative industry and economy employment in North America in early 2016.

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Footnotes:

1.       The analysis maps the existing official UK creative occupations and industries definition onto the most comparable definition in the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) held by the European Union’s statistical agency Eurostat. All figures are for the period 2011-2013.
2.       Creativity vs Robots: The creative economy and future of employment, Nesta
3.       Why the UK needs one million new creative jobs by 2030 and what the government can do about it, Nesta

About Nesta: Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833
www.nesta.org.uk / @nesta_uk

For more information contact Laura Scarrott in Nesta’s press office on 0207 438 2697/ [email protected]