Official Statistics

Economic Estimates: Earnings in DCMS sectors and Digital sector, January 2022 to December 2022.

Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors and Digital Sector to the UK economy, measured by median hourly pay.

Documents

Details

About

These Economic Estimates are used to provide an estimate of employee median earnings in the DCMS Sectors, and separately the Digital Sector.

The earnings estimates published here are based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS) and provide detailed demographic information. DCMS also publishes earnings estimates using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which are more robust and DCMS’s preferred source for headline earnings estimates. The latest ASHE estimates were published in Earnings 2022 and Employment Oct 2021 to Sept 2022 for the DCMS Sectors and Digital Sector.

Content

DCMS Sectors

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

  • Civil Society
  • Creative Industries
  • Cultural Sector
  • Gambling
  • Sport

Tourism is not included as the data is not yet available. The release also includes estimates for the Audio Visual sector and Computer Games subsector.

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several Cultural Sector industries are simultaneously Creative Industries.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Headline findings:

According to earnings estimates, in the 2022 calendar year, within the DCMS Sectors (excluding Tourism) median hourly gross pay was greater than the UK overall. Of the individual sectors, the Gambling, Sport and Civil Society sectors had lower pay than the UK average, while the Creative Industries had the highest median pay.

Within the included DCMS Sectors, in percentage terms, the gap in median hourly pay between men and women, and between disabled and non-disabled people was larger than the UK overall.

Digital Sector:

These statistics also cover the contributions of the following Digital sectors to the UK economy

  • Digital Sector
  • Of which: Telecoms

Users should note that the Telecoms sector sits wholly within the Digital Sector.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Headline findings:

In the 2022 calendar year, within the Digital Sector median hourly gross pay was greater than the UK overall.

Within the Digital Sector, in percentage terms, the gap in median hourly pay between men and women was larger than the UK overall, but smaller than the UK overall between disabled people and non-disabled people.

Released

First published on 13 July 2023.

Pre-release access

A document is provided that contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Call for Feedback

DCMS publishes the following earnings estimates:

  • Gross hourly pay in main jobs for the DCMS sectors, using the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS). This is used for the estimates published in this release and provides more detailed demographic information.
  • Gross weekly earnings and Gross annual earnings using the Annual Survey for Hours and Earning (ASHE). This is more robust for headline measures because data is reported by businesses as part of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system of taxation, and has a larger sample size. The demographic information provided in this release is limited to region, sex (including the gender pay gap), age groups and working hours. The latest ASHE estimates were published in Earnings 2022 and Employment Oct 2021 to Sept 2022 for the DCMS Sectors and Digital Sector.

We are looking for feedback on how the APS earnings estimates are used. We particularly welcome feedback on:

  • Whether you use the ASHE or APS earnings estimates for DCMS sectors, or a combination of the two.
  • How you use the earnings estimates data, including which demographic breakdowns you use.

  • Whether you think it is useful for DCMS to continue to publish earnings estimates from two different data sources.

Please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk before Wednesday 13 September 2023 with any feedback. This is not a formal consultation.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

The responsible analyst for this release is George Ashford.

For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

Updates to this page

Published 13 July 2023
Last updated 28 July 2023 + show all updates
  1. Added links to the associated technical reports.

  2. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page