Employment in a cultural occupation or industry

The five-yearly Census of Population and Housing collects information relating to the occupation and industry of each person’s main job, meaning the job in which a person usually works the most hours.

According to the 2006 Census, a total of 473,550 people were employed in a cultural occupation or cultural industry as their main job in 2006.

Of these, around 285,000 people worked in a cultural occupation, and about 189,000 people worked in non-cultural occupations within cultural industries.

Employment in cultural occupations (a)

Cultural occupation(b)	Male	Female	Total
Heritage
Built, collectable and environmental heritage workers	5,138	4,627	9,765
Library and archive workers	3,890	21,849	25,739
Other heritage workers	31	38	69
Total heritage occupations	9,059	26,514	35,573
Arts
Writers and print media workers	10,685	13,080	23,765
Performing artists and music composers	9,942	5,469	15,411
Performing arts support workers	8,664	6,080	14,744
Visual arts and crafts professionals	7,543	6,612	14,155
Architects and urban planners	22,885	9,152	32,037
Design workers	31,410	27,926	59,336
Broadcasting, film and recorded media equipment operators	7,165	959	8,124
Printing workers	23,040	8,037	31,077
Other arts support workers	7,227	13,894	21,121
Other arts workers	2,175	2,095	4,270
Total arts occupations	130,736	93,304	224,040
Total other cultural occupations	15,990	9,190	25,180
Total cultural occupations	155,785	129,008	284,793

(a) In their main job in the week before Census Night 2006.

(b) The cultural occupations included are a subset of the ANZSCO First Edition Alternative View Culture and Leisure. For more information see Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, 2006 (cat. no. 1220.0).

Note: Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Employment in Culture, 2006 (cat. no. 6273.0).

Between 1996 and 2001 there was a 13.3 per cent increase in the number of people employed in cultural occupations as their main jobs. From 2001 to 2006, the figure increased by 6.8 per cent.

Men account for 55 per cent of cultural occupations as main jobs, and women account for 45 per cent.

The median gross weekly income for people working in a cultural occupation as their main job was $741, compared with $718 for all employed people.

In 2006, around 346,000 people worked in a cultural industry as their main job (although not necessarily in a cultural occupation).

The two largest cultural industries were the printing industry and the architectural services industry.

The number of people employed in cultural industries decreased by 1 per cent between 2001 and 2006. This followed an 11.3 per cent increase between 1996 and 2001.

The median gross weekly income for persons working in cultural industries was $688 compared with $718 for all employed persons.