OREANDA-NEWS. July 02, 2015. Latest figures published today reveal employment within the UK’s creative industries is increasing at more than twice the rate of the wider UK economy. Exports from the sector are also up as the creative industries once again demonstrate what a powerful driver of growth they are for the UK economy.

The statistics released by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) analyse the number of jobs in the creative industries by geographical region, level of qualification, gender, and ethnicity.

The figures also reveal a modest but important increase in the number of people identifying as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) employed within the sector. More than one in 10 (11 per cent) of all jobs within the sector are now filled by someone from a BAME background – the same level as across all UK industries.

Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale said:

“These latest figures demonstrate how the UK’s creative industries continue to be one of our great success stories. It’s a fantastic sector which now accounts for more than 1.8 million jobs in the UK, and employment in this area is increasing at twice the rate of the wider economy. Our films, music and other artists are celebrated around the world and Government is determined to do what we can to ensure our creative industries continue to flourish.”

Key findings include:

  • Jobs within the creative industries increased by 5.5 per cent compared to the national 2.1 per cent rise in employment between 2013 and 2014.

  • Number of jobs in the sector is now 1.8 million. This represents an increase of 15.8 per cent (247,000 jobs) since 2011.

  • Value of services exported by the UK’s creative industries in 2013 is £17.9bn, a rise of 3.5 per cent (£598 million) on the previous year.

  • Exports from the creative industries have increased by 34.2 per cent (around £4.5 billion) - between 2009 and 2013, outperforming the rest of the UK economy by almost 15 per cent.

Although women working in the museums and galleries, publishing, and performing and visual arts fields outnumber their male colleagues, there is still a concerning under-representation of women in other sectors, most notably in the area of IT, software and computer services. Government is committed to making sure that the next generation of talent is being taught, trained and nurtured and welcomes recent initiatives like “TechFuture Girls” and “the Hive” that are encouraging young women to consider a career in these fields.