Auckland's Creative Workforce

Almost one in 10 Aucklanders is a creative and creatives earn more on average than the general workforce, according to Auckland’s Creative Workforce Report.

The report found creative employment is a significant contributor to Auckland’s economy and Auckland has proportionally more creatives than comparable Australian cities.

It also confirmed almost 60 per cent of those in creative services occupations are employed in other sectors of the economy.

The research by ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) was commissioned by Auckland City Council in 2010, and is based on analysis of New Zealand 2001 and 2006 census data.

The report was released by Auckland, Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd (ATEED) in August 2011 to improve the understanding of Auckland’s creative employment. ATEED plans to continue to provide updated analysis as data becomes available.

See below for a video summary of the creative sector and a link to the full report.

• Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to improve the understanding of Auckland’s creative employment by applying a proven methodology to detailed employment and earnings data from recent NZ Censuses.

The approach analyses creative employment based on the occupations of those employed within their industry of employment. The dual dimensions allow a more nuanced understanding than the traditional approaches of employment within creative industries or employment within creative occupations.

Creative employment is a significant contributor to Auckland’s economy

• Approximately 55, 200 people were in creative employment within Auckland in 2006.

This comprised of some 36,447 people employed in both creative and non-creative occupations within specific creative industries. The balance of 18,771 people are those employed in creative occupations across the rest of the economy (i.e. embedded creatives in non creative industries).

• Auckland’s creative employment generates almost $3 billion each year in direct wages and salaries paid to people. At almost 12 per cent of the amount paid to Auckland’s workforce this is higher than the 8.7 per cent share that creative employment comprises of Auckland’s workforce.

• Sixty per cent of employment (21,903 people) within creative industries occurs within the creative services industries of design, digital content and advertising. The balance (14,544) are employed in the creative arts industries – visual and performing arts, film, television and radio, publishing and music.

Auckland’s creative employment is growing faster

• Between 2001 and 2006, Auckland’s creative employment grew at a faster rate (an average of 5.5 per cent per annum) than its total workforce (3.3 per cent) and than New Zealand’s overall creative employment (4.7 per cent).

• In that period across New Zealand 22,584 creative jobs were added and of these 51 per cent or 11,514 new jobs were created in Auckland.

• Creative employment accounted for 11 per cent of all new Auckland jobs between 2001 and 2006.

Creatives are employed across Auckland’s economy – but not necessarily at the same rate

• Almost 60 per cent of those in creative services occupations are employed in other sectors of the economy (i.e. embedded creative services creatives)

Auckland has proportionally more creatives than comparable Australian cities

• Creative’s make up 8.68 per cent of Auckland’s total employment compared to 8.71 per cent for Sydney’s even though Sydney has a workforce three times the size of Auckland. When compared with cities of a similar workforce Auckland has approximately 50 per cent higher density than Brisbane and 70 per cent higher than Perth.

• One segment stands out in the comparison – Auckland has twice the density of Sydney of employment in film industries.

Creatives earn more on average than the workforce

• On average, those in creative employment earn $53,600 per annum which is $11,000 higher than Auckland’s workforce mean income of $42,600.

• Typically, those in the creative segments of digital content, advertising and marketing, radio and television earn substantially higher incomes while those in visual arts, music and performing arts typically earn less than Auckland’s workforce mean income.

• Purpose

This report builds on the work done by Auckland City Council in its series of research reports on Auckland’s Creative industries that first commenced in 2005 (Snapshot) with updates released in 2007 (The Numbers 2007) and 2009 (The Numbers 2009). They explored the economic contribution creative industries make and the challenges they face. The employment data in the Snapshot and

The Numbers reports was based on the Statistics NZ Business Frame and as such it has some limitations.

The purpose of this report is to improve the understanding of Auckland’s creative employment by utilising a different but proven methodology and a different, but still authoritative, source of employment data. No single approach can provide a complete, representative picture, but by utilising a number of approaches we can generate a more nuanced and reliable understanding.

Research objectives:

1 To more accurately model the extent and contribution of creative employment within greater Auckland not only of creative specialists and support staff within creative businesses but also creatives working within other sectors of Auckland’s economy (embedded creatives).

2 To better understand the significance of Auckland’s creative employment to New Zealand as a whole.

3 To better understand the context of Auckland’s significance by reference to other cities where comparable data is already held (Sydney because it has a similar dominant role within Australia and Brisbane and Perth because of similarities in the size of their workforces).

• Full Report: Auckland's Creative Workforce Report [PDF - 9mb]