Recession has hit the "written media" hard, says report on cultural sector

The average employment earnings of workers in the culture sector fell by 2.2 per cent in 2009 as the result of the recession, according to a new study released by the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC). 

 "The global recession is expected to reduce revenues for cultural enterprises by approximately $3.1 billion in 2009".

Even as revenues are falling, the report says the number of self-employed workers in creative and artistic production occupations is expected to grow and, as a result, real employment earnings for workers in these occupations (including the self-employed and employees) are expected to fall by an average of 3.5 per cent. (Self-employment in the cultural sector is more than twice that in the general population.)

Of the nine cultural sectors looked at, written media (including magazines, newspapers and books) felt the hardest impact in terms of revenue, declining 6.1% in 2009, followed by 4.8% for broadcast media. Other items noted:

• Revenue from endowments for all cultural sectors declined by an estimated 16%. 
• The "gross domestic product" of the cultural sector was expected to lose about $2.2 billion in 2009.
• Employment in the cultural sector was expected to decline 2.3% as the result of the recession
  

The report, "The Effect of the Global Economic Recession on Canada's Creative Economy in 2009", is funded by the Government of Canada's Sector Council Program and is the first in a series of three reports that the Conference Board of Canada is working on for CHRC, the other two being: a labour market information report for the cultural sector (to be released in December 2009); and an identification and analysis of human resource issues and trends in the cultural sector (to be released in June 2010).