HR Study 2010

> Labour Market Information for Canada's Cultural Sector

Purchase all three documents that make up HR Study 2010 in a printable electronic format

The HR Study 2010 package contains: HR Trends and Issues, Labour Market Information for Canada's Cultural Sector and The Effect of the Global Economic Recession on Canada's Creative Economy in 2009.

Cultural Sector Occupations - Highlights

Occupations by category

Occupations have been grouped into four categories.

  • Creative and artistic production: Creative and artistic production represents the largest cultural occupation group. It included nearly 54 per cent of all cultural occupations in 2006.

  • Technical and operational: Employment in technical and operational occupations experienced slightly slower than average growth between 2001 and 2006. In 2006 there were 188,945 jobs in this category.

  • Heritage collection and preservation: The heritage occupational group consists of only three occupations - librarians, conservators and curators, and archivists. It is the smallest of the cultural occupation groups. A distinctive feature of this group is the very high level of education among workers.

  • Cultural management: The cultural management occupational group consists of only three occupations: library, archive, and art gallery managers; managers in publishing, motion pictures, broadcasting, and live performing arts; and supervisors of library, correspondence, and related clerks.

Employment numbers

Total cultural occupations in 2009 (excluding Interactive Digital Media): 538,548

From 2001 and 2006, employment in cultural occupations increased 12 per cent in Canada (growth in the overall economy was 9 per cent). Between 2006 and 2009, overall employment in cultural occupations increased 5.1 per cent. In 2009, employment decreased in all of the cultural occupational groups, excluding heritage collection and preservation.

Employment status

Census data show a higher incidence of self-employment in cultural occupations than in the overall Canadian labour force. This was particularly true for the creative and artistic production occupations, where more than 40 per cent of workers were self-employed. The rate of part-time versus full-time employment in cultural occupations was similar to that of the overall employed Canadian labour force.

Education profile

In the overall labour force, 41 per cent of workers have a high school education or less, compared with 27 per cent in the cultural labour force.

Compensation

Wages and salaries recorded among cultural occupations tended to be lower than for the Canadian labour force overall. This was true for both full-time and part-time workers.