Philadelphia Creative Sector Makes Up 1 in 15 Jobs; Full Report Released

The City of Philadelphia's Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE) released new research on creative sector employment in the City of Philadelphia for 2011. The research indicates 48,900 jobs exist in the creative sector, which represents 6.5% of the jobs in Philadelphia, or one-in-fifteen jobs. Creative sector employment grew 6.3% from 2001 to 2011, yielding $5 billion in direct output and $2.7 billion in direct employee earnings.

"Creative businesses and creative workers are a vital part of Philadelphia's creative renaissance and our path to economic revitalization," said Mayor Michael Nutter. "We know that our city is attracting artists and creative entrepreneurs; we want to make a welcoming home for them here in our business community, in our arts and culture organizations and in our neighborhoods."

The analysis, which was conducted by Econsult Corporation, provides valuable information on the importance of the creative sector and its place in the city's economy. "If we compared Philadelphia's Creative Sector with other industry categories it would rank 4th as a sector after healthcare, education and retail in terms of employees," said Stephen P. Mullin, Senior Vice President and Principal, Econsult Corporation.

In 2010 and 2011, research studies commissioned by OACCE ranked Philadelphia 50-70% above the national standard in "creative vitality" using the Creative Vitality Index™, a research tool developed by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) to measure the creative health of an area. The CVI™ is based on eight sources of data on for-profit and non-profit arts and creative activities compared to a national average, similar to the consumer price index. This new brief further analyzes the contribution of creative sector employment and includes both creative occupations, defined by the artistic or creative nature of the job, as well as non-creative jobs in creative businesses. This research work was made possible in part by funds generously provided by the William Penn Foundation.

You can find a copy of the Philadelphia Creative Employment Research Brief and other OACCE research at: http://creativephl.org.

About the Creative Economy: The creative sector includes the people and products that make up the for-profit and nonprofit arts-related creative industries such as visual and performing arts, graphic design, music, fashion, public relations, and architecture.

About the OACCE: The mission of the City of Philadelphia's Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy is to support and promote arts, culture and the creative industries; and to develop partnerships and coordinate efforts that weave arts, culture and creativity into the economic and social fabric of the City.

About Econsult Corporation: Founded over thirty years ago, Econsult provides its clients with rigorous economic analysis in support of public policy, economic development, litigation and consulting matters. It combines state-of-the-art analytic methods with extensive professional experience in consulting, academia and government. In August 2010, Econsult joined with Fairmount Capital Advisors, Inc., in creating The Econsult/Fairmount Group. This new venture offers their clients a comprehensive array of economic consulting and financial advisory services. Fairmount Capital Advisors is an independent advisory firm founded in 1987 that assists governmental, public and private organizations with financial planning and transaction management services for taxable and tax-exempt debt.

More Articles by This Author...