Employment in the North East’s creative sectors since 2015 and the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic
The North East Culture Partnership has analysed the latest employment for the period 2015 to 2021 to examine the changes to the DCMS sectors (excluding tourism), the creative industries, and the culture and digital sectors, with an in-depth look at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic between 2019 and 2021.
Introduction
The North East Culture Partnership has analysed the latest employment for the period 2015 to 2021 to examine the changes to the DCMS sectors (excluding tourism), the creative industries, and the culture and digital sectors, with an in-depth look at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic between 2019 and 2021.
North East Employment between 2015 and 2021
The following table uses the latest DCMS employment estimates for the period 2015 to 2021.
When comparing 2021 with 2015, two sectors have increased in terms of numbers of employees, but the culture sector has contracted by nearly 19%, with the digital sector showing no change.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a considerable contraction in employee numbers across all four sectors with a nearly 32% reduction in the culture sector employee base.
No. NE employees | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | % change 2015 to 2021 | % change 2019 to 2021 |
DCMS sectors (excluding tourism) | 110,000 | 107,000 | 103,000 | 109,000 | 124,000 | 118,000 | 111,000 | 0.91 | – 10.48 |
Creative Industries | 38,000 | 43,000 | 46,000 | 46,000 | 56,000 | 47,000 | 45,000 | 18.42 | – 19.64 |
Culture sector | 16,000 | 15,000 | 17,000 | 13,000 | 19,000 | 18,000 | 13,000 | – 18.75 | – 31.58 |
Digital sector | 37,000 | 36,000 | 33,000 | 34,000 | 43,000 | 45,000 | 37,000 | – | – 13.95 |
Total | 201,000 | 201,000 | 199,000 | 202,000 | 242,000 | 228,000 | 206,000 | 2.49 | – 14.88 |
North East changes between self employed and employed: 2019 to 2021
The percentage job loss among the self-employed was greater than the employed in three sectors. However, the culture sector employee numbers show a reversed trend, with more than twice as many employed as self-employed losing their jobs between 2019 and 2021 as the employed:
The Covid-19 pandemic affected creative sector employment in the regions differently
When comparing between regions for 2019 to 2021, the North East was particularly badly affected by the pandemic – with the largest % reductions in workforce for each of the four creative sectors out of all 12 regions, as shown in the following table and bar chart:
Information sources
Employment in DCMS sector
DCMS Sector National Economic Estimates: 2011 to 2020 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
DCMS Sector Economic Estimates: Workforce, 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) – Estimates for employment (number of filled jobs) and earnings (median hourly pay) in the DCMS Sectors, for the period January 2021 to December 2021.
