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About

These Economic Estimates are used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by employment (number of filled jobs). These estimates are calculated based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS).They have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and are accredited official statistics.

Separately, DCMS sector Economic Estimates on Employment by Socio-economic background and social mobility are provided and sourced from the ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS). These are official statistics and cover the period July to September for the years 2016 and 2019 to 2023.

Content

DCMS Sectors

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• civil society
• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling
• sport

Tourism is not included as the data is not yet available. The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector and computer games sector.

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Headline findings:

Between April 2023 to March 2024, there were approximately 4.0 million filled jobs in the included DCMS sectors (excluding tourism), an increase of 408,000 (11.3%) since the 2019 calendar year (pre-pandemic) and 44,000 (1.1%) since the previous equivalent 12 month period. For context, in the economy as a whole, there were 33.9 million jobs, an increase of 357,000 (1.1%) and 152,000 (0.4%) since the previous equivalent 12 month period.

The overall proportion of jobs filled by workers from more advantaged backgrounds in the included DCMS sectors was higher, at 50.6% (19.2% from less advantaged backgrounds, 30.2% with no data available), than for UK filled jobs as a whole at 43.2% (23.4% from less advantaged backgrounds, 33.4% with no data available).

A higher proportion of jobs in the included DCMS sectors were of higher current socio-economic status (85.7%) than for the UK as a whole (71.0%). These trends vary by sector.

Released

First published on 25th September 2024.

Pre-release access

A document is provided that contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Office for Statistics Regulation

DCMS Economic Estimates Employment official statistics, calculated from the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS), were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in June 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled accredited official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

The responsible analyst for this release is Nicholas Hamilton Wu.

For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.