Independent Culture Fair Work Task Force Report and Recommendations

Annex D - Key Statistics

Creative Industries in Scotland: Key Statistics

Extracted from Scottish Government Creative Industries sector briefing^[83]

Employment (2023)

Updated December 2024, next update November 2025

• Employment in the Creative Industries sector stood at 90,000 in 2023, accounting for 3.4% of employment in Scotland and 5.4% of employment in Creative Industries across Great Britain. Employment in this sector increased by 2.3% over the latest year in Scotland.

Exports^[84] (2021)

Updated March 2024, next update tbc

• Total exports from the Creative Industries sector stood at £3.8 billion in 2021, accounting for 4.7% of Scotland’s total exports. Exports from this sector increased by 14.2% over the year.
• Exports to the rest of the UK stood at £2.0 billion in 2021 and accounted for 53.8% of total Creative Industries exports. International exports to the EU stood at £680 million (18.0%) and international exports to non-EU countries stood at £1.1 billion (28.3%).

Turnover/Gross Value Added (2023)^[85]

Updated October 2025, next update August 2026

• In 2023, turnover for the Creative Industries sector was £10.2 billion and approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA) was £5.4 billion. Between 2022 and 2023, turnover in this sector decreased by 3.3% and aGVA by 7.1% in nominal terms.

Enterprises (2024)^[86]

Updated December 2024, next update December 2025

• In March 2024, there were 13,085 registered enterprises operating in the Creative Industries sector, 7.5% of all registered business in Scotland. In 2024, 97.2% of Scottish Creative Industries registered enterprises were small (0-49 employees), accounting for 46.8% of employment in this sector, whilst large enterprises (250+ employees) accounted for 1.0% of registered enterprises but 35.4% of employment.

Portrait of the Industries – Key Evidence Extracts

Extracted from “A quantitative baseline of job quality in the Creative Industries’, Working Paper 1 from the Creative PEC's Good Work Review, Heather Carey, Lesley Giles and Dave O’Brien, February 2023

Involuntary Non-Permanent Work:

‘In the Creative Industries, around one in twenty employees are on non-permanent employment contracts, in line with the average across all industries. Generally, this tends to reflect choice rather than need: between 2017-2019, 23% of those on temporary contracts state this is because they could not find a permanent job, lower than average (27%).

While estimates should be treated with caution, workers in Museums, galleries and libraries and Publishing tend to struggle more to find permanent work, with 30% and 29% of workers (respectively).’ Page 29.

Impact on marginalised workers:

‘Data for different types of Creative workers should be treated with caution given low sample size, but there are indications that a larger proportion of women; those aged 25-34; disabled workers and those with a long-term health condition; those from working-class backgrounds and those employed in smaller firms are employed on temporary contracts because they are not able to find a permanent job. Page 27

Involuntary Self-Employed:

‘In the Creative Industries, workers are twice as likely to be self-employed than is average across the economy (26% compared to 13% of the UK workforce). The data suggests that this generally reflects the choice of Creative workers, with just 9% of self-employed Creatives suggesting they work in this way because they are unable to find an employee job. Rates are relatively consistent over time and there are only incremental differences between Creative sub-sectors except for Museums, galleries and libraries where rates are considerably higher (although figures should be treated with caution)’, page 27

‘Involuntary self-employment does, however, appear to increase with age, with around 15% of self-employed workers aged 55+ suggesting they are self-employed because they are unable to find other employment. Wider differences in the prevalence of involuntary self employment between different types of workers should be treated with caution given low sample bases. Page 28

Involuntary Part-Time Work:

‘Underemployment is more common in parts of the Creative Industries, with the proportion of part-time workers suggesting they would like a full-time job higher than average across the economy (16% and 12% respectively) and rising since Covid-19. There are significant differences between Creative sub-sectors. In Architecture, IT and Advertising the vast majority of those working part-time do so because they do not want a full-time job. However, the share of part-time workers that would like a full-time job is above average in Screen; Museums, galleries and libraries; Design; Publishing and Music, performing and visual arts.’ (Page 30)

‘There are also prominent differences in rates of underemployment for different types of Creative workers. Men are twice as likely than women to be working a part-time role because they are unable to find full-time work. Similar differences are observable between younger workers aged between 16 – 34 and workers aged 35+.

Workers from ethnic minority backgrounds are also significantly more likely to be part-time because they are unable to find full-time work, as are those working in smaller firms, those that are self employed workers and Creative workers in the Devolved Nations workers (Page 31)

Underemployment: Hours Insufficiency:

‘While the proportion of Creative workers wanting to work more hours is in line with the average across all industries (both 7%), this masks significant variation within the Creative Industries. Consistent with trends in involuntary part-time work, hour insufficiency is particularly acute in Music, performing and visual arts and Museums, galleries and libraries (where 14% of workers would like to work more hours) and in the Screen Industries (9%). (Page 32)

‘Underemployment also varies between different types of workers in the Creative Industries, albeit to a lesser degree than sub-sectorally. Younger workers aged 16-24, disabled workers and those from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to want to work longer hours. There are also striking differences by employment status, with underemployment more pronounced amongst self employed Creative workers than employees, and also by firm size, with workers in smaller firms more commonly seeking to work longer hours.’

(Page 33)

Job Security:

‘Creative employees generally report that their jobs are less secure than those employed in other industry sectors. Job security was also lower in the Creative Industries pre-pandemic, between 2016-18. Insecure work was most commonly reported amongst those employed in Museums, galleries and libraries and Music, performing and visual arts.’ Page 34

Work intensity (working 50+ hours p/w):

‘Across the Creative Industries just less than one in four workers (24%) report usually working 50 or more hours per week – broadly in line with the average across all industries (23%). However, there is substantial variation across Creative subsectors. Indeed, work intensity appears to be a particular challenge for the Screen Industries and Architecture, where 31% of workers regularly work extremely long hours – amongst the highest rate in the economy.’ (Page 53)

‘Men are much more likely to work extremely long hours than women, with 27% regularly working 50+ hours a week, compared to 15% of women. The propensity to work extremely long hours tends to increase with age, peaking among the 45-54 cohort, before then reducing slightly for workers aged 55+. The most notable difference is amongst self-employed Creative workers, with 37% reporting they regularly work extremely long hours, compared to 21% of employees in the Creative Industries.’ (Page 54)

Healthy, respectful and inclusive work environment:

Stress, depression and anxiety:

While those working in the Creative Industries are less likely to report an illness that was caused or made worse by work, amongst those that did, the cause was more likely to be Stress, depression or anxiety

Wellbeing:

Self-reported wellbeing is slightly below average in the Creative Industries and Creative workers report greater levels of anxiety than average. Wellbeing is lowest, and anxiety highest, amongst disabled workers and people of Black/Black British origin.

Representation:

Women are significantly under-represented in the Creative Industries, with female representation particularly poor in IT, Architecture and Screen. There is a significant underrepresentation of racially diverse talent outside of IT, particularly Craft; Music, performing and visual arts; and Museums, galleries and libraries. Disabled people are also under-represented in the Creative Industries, particularly in: Advertising and Marketing; Architecture; Design; and IT & software. Class-based exclusion is more pronounced in the Creative Industries than any other part of the UK economy, with substantial class-based disparities evident in all Creative sub-sectors, except for Crafts.’

Work-related illness:

‘Particularly high rates of work-related illness are evident amongst those with a disability (12.3%) and a long-term health condition (7.0%). These rates are broadly in line with those seen across the economy, but the extent to which Creative work is a cause/compounding factor of disability and long-term health conditions warrants further investigation. Differences in other areas are more nuanced. Self-employed workers are more likely to report work-related ill-health, as are those aged 35-44 and those working in the Creative Industries in Wales.’ (Page 59)

Stress, depression and anxiety:

‘While those working in the Creative Industries are less likely to report an illness that was caused or made worse by work than is average across all industries (see Figure 21A), amongst those that did report this, in 63% of cases this was related to Stress, depression or anxiety – significantly higher than is average across all industries (48%). Rates were also elevated pre-Covid, between 2017-19, suggesting that mental health is a more important concern in the Creative Industries.’ (Page 60)

Wellbeing (happiness)

‘Wellbeing scores are also below average amongst Creative workers of Black/Black British origin, Creative workers in Wales, and those working for large businesses.’ (Page 62)

Wellbeing (anxiety):

‘Creative workers report greater levels of anxiety than average (Mean score of 3.3 compared to 3.0) and persistently amongst the highest rates of anxiety in the economy. Reported rates of anxiety increased during the pandemic and in 2021 remained elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels. Workers in Music, performing and visual arts report slightly higher rates of anxiety, while those working in Crafts and IT report being slightly less anxious than average.’ (Page 63)

‘Women working in the Creative Industries tend to report slightly higher rates of anxiety than men, as do Black/black British workers compared to their white counterparts. Again, the most pronounced disparities in wellbeing scores relate to disability, with disabled workers and those with long term health conditions reporting much higher rates of anxiety than those that do not have a disability or long-term conditions.’ (Page 64)

Equal Opportunities Policy

‘Despite increased focus on diversity and inclusion in the Creative Industries over the past decade or so, Creative employers are less likely to have an Equal Opportunities policy – 78% of Creative employers placing the industry behind the all industry average (82%) and most other industry sectors. There is, however, a degree of variation between Creative sub-sectors. Almost all (95%) employers in Museums, galleries and libraries have such a policy in place compared to around three quarters of employers in Design (75%), Advertising (76%) and IT (76%).’ (Page 65)

Businesses and organisations:

‘Analysis of Higher and Further Education graduate numbers suggest that while there may be a large potential labour pool there is a need for industry, stakeholders, educators and government to work together to coordinate support and resources to attract them into the sector and retain them.' (Page 33)

Awareness of Fair Work:

‘A substantial minority however (30% of employers), told us they were unfamiliar with the Fair Work principles. In comparison, freelance survey participants were less familiar with Fair Work (only 36% said they were familiar with the Fair Work principles), but when prompted with more information a higher 66% felt Fair Work was relevant to them as a freelancer in the sector.’ (Page 6)

Evidence on Challenges Implementing Fair Work in the Sector:

‘Overall, 86% of employers told us they felt confident that their organisation is currently doing what is required to adopt Fair Work First principles. However, it is notable that a much lower proportion (44-64% varying by principle) felt that they had adequate support to do this, 14% said they were lacking in confidence in how to implement them, and almost all of the employers (93%) indicated their organisation faced challenges in implementing the Fair Work principles.’

‘… 93% of employers taking part in our Fair Work survey indicated they would face challenges implementing Fair Work.’ (Page 9)

Evidence for a Fair Work Fund

‘Employers in the sector have already been facing financial squeeze and instability over many years, and many wonder how they might be expected to fund and resource Fair Work on top of this.’ (Page 7)