Employments in Arts & Culture
Paid employment in the arts reflects a social investment in cultural life through which community vitality is increased. A community’s ability to provide salaries and benefits to artists, musicians and other performers should result in more artistic productivity and will positively influence the availability of cultural opportunities in the larger society.
• Based on 2005 employment data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, about 11 out of 1,000 employed persons in King County were working in arts establishments. Within this broad category of arts employment, 4.8 out of every 1,000 employed persons in King County were working in arts organizations. (figure 1) These include: theater companies and dinner theater, dance companies, musical groups and artists, other performing arts companies, museums, historical sites, zoos and botanical gardens, and nature parks. In addition, there were 3.5 per 1,000 working in retail art galleries/dealers, arts schools (except those in academic settings), bookstores and music stores; and 2.6 per 1,000 working in video rental stores, movie theaters, and as independent artists.
• The heaviest concentration of arts employment was in Seattle, where, out of every 1,000 employed persons, 11.0 were working in arts organizations (up from 9.5 in 2002), 4.9 working in retail art galleries/ dealers, arts schools, bookstores and music stores; and 2.7 per 1,000 working in video rental stores, movie theaters, and as independent artists.
• The North Region had the second highest level of arts employment, due to its video rental store/movie theater/independent artist concentration. The East Region followed with the third highest level of employment in arts establishments.
• Compared to demographically similar counties across the United States, King County has the highest arts-related employment (Pierce County, Washington has a slightly higher rate of employment for independent artists and in video rental stores and movie theaters). (figure 2) The numbers in this chart differ slightly from those in the previous chart due to the differences in data sources.
• Excluding those who are self-employed, arts employment in the Seattle-Bellevue- Everett Metropolitan District represents more than three-quarters of all arts employment in Washington State.
• In 2005/2006, 10.3 out of every 1,000 selfemployed persons in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan District were working as artists (data not shown). (figure 3)
Data Source, Definitions, and Limitations
The Urban Institute’s Arts and Culture Indicators Project prepared and provided data for the analyses of artist employment (working for an employer and self-employed) and employment in arts establishments.
Source data for employment in arts organizations and establishments were obtained from 2005 data on County Business Patterns and Zip Business Patterns (ZBP). These annual series provide national and sub-national economic data by industry. The Business Patterns basic data items are extracted from the Standard Statistical Establishment List, a file of all known single and multi-establishment employer companies maintained and updated by the U.S. Census Bureau. These data are obtained from various Census Bureau programs, such as the Company Organization Survey, and the Annual Survey of Manufactures and Current Business Surveys. They are supplemented with administrative records from the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The series excludes data on self-employed individuals, employees of private households, and most government employees. In addition, data are not available in the ZBP data for zip codes which did not have a corresponding ZCTA (zip code tabulation area) in the 2000 Census. A notable King County case affected by these exclusions is the University of Washington which is mostly composed of government employees and which did not have a ZCTA corresponding to its 98195 zip code in the 2000 Census.
Demographically similar counties were chosen with the following criteria: a) three to five counties total; b) population greater than 500,000; c) percent race distribution is close to that for King County; d) percent foreign-born; e) percent living below the Federal Poverty Level.
Source data for artist employment were from the combined data bases of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Survey (OES) and Non-Employer Statistics (NES). The OES annually collects information on the number of individual employees within employer businesses. NES data for non-employer businesses were obtained from the Internal Revenue Service, based on tax forms filed primarily by the self-employed with receipts of more than $1,000 per year. OES data is only available by metropolitan area, and so is reported here for the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan District, some of which is in Snohomish County. This district is not geographically comparable to the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan Area reported in the previous Communities Count report.
