Cultural Employment 

Measuring how culture contributes to economic development

Since the World Decade for Cultural Development (1988-1997), UNESCO has worked to strengthen recognition of how culture

contributes to sustainable development and economic prosperity. In this context, understanding the value of cultural employment

to the economy is vital. However, without appropriate methods of measurement and sound statistics countries lack the tools

necessary to evaluate the extent and characteristics of cultural employment in a comparable way.

What is the size of the cultural labour force in the economy? How many artists are employed as performers? What are the

unemployment rates of the culture sector compared to other sectors? These and other questions have emerged as countries

seek to adopt policies and undertake activities to foster vibrant cultural industries.

What is the role of the UIS?

The UIS is developing a global survey on cultural employment statistics. The results will shed light on the contribution of

culture to economic and social development, as well as the  conditions of those engaged in cultural activities. The UIS is developing a questionnaire using the methodology of the 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics, which will be implemented in stages over several years.

Survey development

In order to lay the groundwork for the new suvey, the UIS has held consultations on the collection, dissemination and analysis of labour force statistics.  To this end, the UIS organized an inter-agency meeting on cultural employment in June 2011 with the ILO, Eurostat, OECD, WIPO, the UNESCO Culture Sector and other experts in the field. As a result of the meeting, the UIS commissioned a study to identify and map the global sources of cultural employment data (such as censuses and labour force surveys). Initial recommendations for harmonisation and estimation methodology were produced. Based on these results, the UIS is currently developing a draft data collection instrument.