Artists in a Year of Recession: Impact on Jobs in 2008

NEA Research Note #97

March 30, 200930 March 2009

Issue

Situation of artists

Article Link

http://www.arts.endow.gov/news/news09/artist-unemployment-rates.html

Using unpublished labour statistics, this report finds that artists have particularly “high unemployment rates and discouraging job prospects” in the U.S. during the current recession. Among the negative statistics:

63% more artists were unemployed in fourth quarter of 2008 than in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The unemployment rate of artists (6.0%) is similar to that of all workers (6.1%) but much higher than the rate for all professionals (3.0%).

“Unemployment rates for artists have risen more rapidly than for U.S. workers as a whole.”

Many artists were not included in the unemployment statistics because they had left the workforce.

The arts occupations with the highest unemployment rates are performers, visual artists and writers.

The report notes that, in February, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which, among many other items, includes an additional $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts “to support the preservation of jobs in the nonprofit arts sector”.