Comparing Cultural Employment Trends - Canada and US

Hill Strategies offers a summary of a Statistics Canada report looking at cultural employment trends in Canada and the US. Not all cultural employment categories could be used because of comparability difficulties; overall statistics are therefore not as useful as the growth rate comparisons within the categories utilized. Findings:

• in both countries, cultural employment grew at a much greater rate than the workforce as a whole between 1981 and 2001: up 81% in Canada compared to the overall growth rate of 32%; up 66% in the US, about double the overall 32% labour force growth rate
• in both countries, cultural employment growth was experienced in both rural and urban areas: in Canadian rural areas, cultural labour growth was 55% between 1991 and 2001, compared to the overall rate of 16%; in Canadian urban areas, the cultural labour force grew by 90% between 1991 and 2001, compared to an overall rate of 43%
• despite strong overall growth in cultural cateories, between 1981 and 2001 the percentage of the overall Canadian workforce employed in heritage jobs decreased slightly
• over the 20 year period, growth in cultural employment was stronger in Canada than in the US; in 1981 the US had a higher proportion of the overall labour force employed in cultural positions, by 2001 the situation had reversed and Canada had the higher proportion
• growth rates were high in both countries from 1981 to 1991; Canada remained strong from 1991 to 2001, while the US rate declined.

Source: http://www.artsresearchmonitor.com/article_details.php?artUID=50403