Official Statistics

Creative Industries Economic Estimates January 2015 - Key Findings

Published 13 January 2015

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/creative-industries-economic-estimates-january-2015/creative-industries-economic-estimates-january-2015-key-findings

1. Introduction

These Creative Industries Economic Estimates are Official Statistics used to measure the direct economic contribution of the Creative Industries to the UK economy. An analysis of the contribution made by the Creative Industries to UK Employment, Gross Value Added (GVA) and Exports of Services has been provided in this release. The estimates have been produced using ONS National Statistics sources.

The Creative Industries were defined in the Government’s 2001 Creative Industries Mapping Document as “those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property”.

This release retains that definition, but uses a methodology introduced last year for determining which occupation and industry codes (in Annex A and Annex B or the full report) are classified as “creative”. This methodology makes use of a robust finding from research that having high levels of “creative intensity” – that is, the proportion of the workforce in creative occupations – separates the Creative Industries from other industries . Therefore these estimates should not be compared with estimates published prior to 2014.

The methodology comprises three steps. First, a set of occupations are identified as creative . Second, creative intensity is calculated for all industries in the economy. Third, all industries with a creative intensity above a certain “threshold” are classified as Creative Industries.

Uncertainties in the data mean that it is particularly important to review industries with creative intensities around the threshold level, so the final classification has also drawn on feedback gathered from users through consultation.

The consultation process in 2013, from which the final classification was agreed, was supported by a cross-industry collaboration overseen by the Creative Industries Council, Creative Skillset, Creative and Cultural Skills, Nesta, DCMS and a range of industry bodies .

1.1 Data sources

This release has been based on ONS data sources which use the latest occupational classification (SOC 2010) and the latest industrial classification (SIC 2007). Since the last release, DCMS has worked with ONS to develop longer time series which span periods that use earlier classifications, which has enabled estimates to be calculated back to 1997.

  1. Employment data analysed by DCMS are taken from the Annual Population Survey (APS). The latest occupational coding standard (SOC 2010) was introduced to the APS in the 2011 data.
  2. GVA data analysed by DCMS are taken from the Annual Business Survey (ABS). The latest industrial classification (SIC 2007) was introduced in the 2008 data.
  3. Exports of Services data analysed by DCMS are from the International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey. The latest industrial classification (SIC 2007) was introduced to these data in 2009.
  4. Analysis has been carried out by the ONS Methodology Advisory Service to produce comparable data for Creative Employment, GVA, and Exports of Services to overcome changing industrial and occupational coding in the underlying data. This has allowed series to be constructed between 1997 and the most recent data available.

2. Key Findings

Creative Economy Employment (1997 – 2013)

  • 2.62m jobs were in the Creative Economy in 2013, 1 in 12 UK jobs.
  • Employment within the Creative Economy grew by 66 thousand jobs (2.6%) between 2012 and 2013, a higher rate than for the UK Economy as a whole (1.6%).
  • Between 1997 and 2013, employment in the Creative Economy has increased from 1.81m jobs to 2.62m jobs. This was equivalent to a rise of 2.3 per cent each year, around four times greater than the 0.6 per cent increase each year in the number of jobs in the UK Economy.

Creative Industries Employment (1997 – 2013)

  • The Creative Industries accounted for 1.71m jobs in 2013, 5.6 per cent of total UK jobs; and a 1.4 per cent increase on 2012.
  • Over the longer term, the number of jobs within the Creative Industries increased by 3.9 per cent each year between 1997 and 2013, compared to 0.6 per cent in the UK economy.

Gross Value Added (GVA) (1997 – 2013) - measured in current prices (i.e. not adjusted for inflation).

  • GVA of the Creative Industries was £76.9bn in 2013 and accounted for 5.0 per cent of the UK Economy. For the third year running, the Creative Industries proportion of total UK GVA was higher than the year before, and at 5.0 per cent is now as high as has been recorded.
  • GVA of the Creative Industries increased by 9.9 per cent between 2012 and 2013. This was higher than any individual Blue Book sector.
  • Between 1997 and 2013, GVA of the Creative Industries increased by 5.8 per cent each year compared to 4.2 per cent in the UK economy.
  • The GVA of the Creative Industries was 4.0 percent of total UK GVA in 1997, but had increased to 5.0 per cent in 2013.

Exports of Services (1997 – 2012) - measured in current prices (i.e. not accounting for inflation).

  • The value of services exported by the Creative Industries was £17.3bn in 2012, 8.8 per cent of total UK service exports.
  • Between 2011 and 2012 the value of service exports from the Creative Industries increased by 11.3 per cent. This compares with an increase of 2.8 per cent for total UK service exports.
  • Between 2004 and 2012 the proportion of total UK service exports which were from the Creative Industries increased from 7.9 to 8.8 per cent. The value of services exported by the Creative Industries increased by an average of 8.5 per cent each year between 2004 and 2012, compared to 6.9 percent for the UK economy.

2.1 Summary of headline estimates for the past 5 years

Table 1: Levels of Employment, GVA and Exports of services in the Creative Industries from 2009 to 2013

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Employment 1,430,000 1,425,000 1,551,000 1,684,000 1,708,000
GVA (£m) 57,618 59,753 65,180 70,012 76,909
Exports (£m) 13,303 14,719 15,503 17,258 -

Notes:
1. Source, ONS Annual Population Survey, Annual Business Survey, and International Trade in Services Survey
2. Employment data for 2009 and 2010 are taken from ONS Methodology Advisory Service estimates

Table 2: Year on year percentage change in Employment, GVA and Exports of services in the Creative Industries from 2010 to 2013

Percentage change on previous year 2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of Jobs Creative Industries -0.30% 8.90% 8.60% 1.40%
  Wider UK Economy 0.80% 3.80% 0.70% 1.60%
Gross Value Added Creative Industries 3.70% 9.10% 7.40% 9.90%
  Wider UK Economy 4.10% 2.90% 2.40% 3.30%
Exports of Services Creative Industries 10.60% 5.30% 11.30% -
  Wider UK Economy 4.0% 6.8% 2.8% -

Notes:
1. Source, ONS Annual Population Survey, Annual Business Survey, and International Trade in Services Survey
2. Percentage change in employment data between 2009 and 2011 use ONS Methodology Advisory Service estimates

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