News > Employment in arts and culture industries, December 2020

Employment in arts and culture industries, December 2020

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The Festival Hall | Calgary Folk Music Festival lit up their venue in red as part of the #LightUpLive campaign back in September 2020.

Employment declined in most industries in December, including the arts sector and in cultural industries in December 2020.

Total hours worked in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector [NAICS 71] declined for the fourth straight month, down 4.1% in December.

In order to provide a detailed picture of job losses in the arts, culture and heritage sub-sectors during the COVID-19 crisis, CAPACOA licenced access to custom employment statistics from Statistics Canada. These statistics are from the Labour Force Survey, a monthly survey of approximately 56,000 households. They provide an account of employment for full-time, part-time and occasional employees, as well as self-employed workers. 

Focus on actual hours worked

  • While employment was down 0.6% across all industries in December, total actual hours worked increased 3.4%. Yet, they were down 4.3% compared to pre-COVID level, that is last year at the same period.
  • Five sectors were still more than 10% away from recovery (see table 3.B, below):
    • Transportation and warehousing: -11.8%
    • Business, building and other support services: -14.7%
    • Other services (except public services): -16.2%
    • Accommodation and food services: -33.5%
    • Arts, entertainment and recreation: -39.4%
  • Total hours worked in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector [71] declined for the fourth straight month, down 4.1% in December.
  • The performing arts, spectator sports and related industries [711] displayed an unusual 8.4% increase in December. However, this data point should be interpreted with caution, since the increase is driven by industry groups whose data is no longer reliable enough to be released.

Other employment indicators

  • For the first time in four months, employment decreased in information and cultural industries [51]. It was down 8.3% in December. Total employment in this sector nonetheless remained 14% higher than in 2019 at the same period.
  • Employment fell for the fourth consecutive month in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector [71] in December, this time by 3.7%. 
  • The arts, entertainment and recreation sector [71] remains the furthest away from recovery. Total employment was 31.9% lower than last year at the same period. In comparison, accommodation and food services were 26.9% away from recovery.
  • Total labour force participation decreased slightly in both the information and cultural industries [51] (-1.5%) and the arts, entertainment and recreation sector [71] (-0.7%).

Table 1 – Labour force estimates (x 1,000) by selected industry, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality

Industry (with NAICS classification)Labour force, Dec. 2020 (x 1,000)c. previous month (x1,000) c. previous month (%) Dec. 2020 c. Dec. 2019 (x 1,000)Dec. 2020 c. Dec. 2019 (%)
Total, all industries20108.4-121.4-0.6%-21-0.1%
51, 71 Information, culture and recreation 1723-8.4-1.1%-49.2-6.4%
51 Information and cultural industries381.7-6-1.5%49.915.0%
   511 Publishing industries (except internet)73.47.411.2%6.59.7%
   512 Motion picture and sound recording industries93.2-1.5-1.6%1012.0%
   515 Broadcasting (except internet) 230.5-5-14.1%-5.8-16.0%
   517 Telecommunications134.9-15-10.0%35.836.1%
   518 Data processing, hosting, and related services 38.61.521.1%-4.7-35.3%
   519 Other information services 2416.518.8%8.124.6%
71 Arts, entertainment and recreation341.3-2.4-0.7%-99.1-22.5%
   711 Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries116.46.35.7%-30.3-20.7%
      7111 Performing arts companies 218.95.339.0%-20.8-52.4%
      7112 Spectator sports 26.70.46.3%-7-51.1%
      7113 Promoters (presenters) of performing arts, sports and similar events 3xxxxx
      7114 Agents and managers for artists, athletes, entertainers and other public figures 3xxxxx
      7115 Independent artists, writers and performers73.7-2.8-3.7%-2.6-3.4%
   712 Heritage institutions33.94.113.8%39.7%
   713 Amusement, gambling and recreation industries190.9-12.9-6.3%-72-27.4%
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, by selected industries, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality, December 2020. Calculations and data reliability notes by CAPACOA. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

 

Table 2 – Employment estimates (x 1,000), by selected industries, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality

Industry (with NAICS classification)Employment, Dec. 2020 (x 1,000)c. previous month (x1,000) c. previous month (%) Dec. 2020 c. Dec. 2019 (x 1,000)Dec. 2020 c. Dec. 2019 (%)
Total, all industries18503.2-113.9-0.6%-593.2-3.1%
51, 71 Information, culture and recreation 1644.2-19.1-2.9%-86.9-11.9%
51 Information and cultural industries363.2-8.4-2.3%44.514.0%
   511 Publishing industries (except internet)716.610.2%6.910.8%
   512 Motion picture and sound recording industries83.2-5.5-6.2%9.512.9%
   515 Broadcasting (except internet)27.3-7.4-21.3%-8.8-24.4%
   517 Telecommunications132.5-12.8-8.8%33.934.4%
   518 Data processing, hosting, and related services 28.61.521.1%-4.7-35.3%
   519 Other information services 40.69.128.9%7.723.4%
71 Arts, entertainment and recreation281-10.7-3.7%-131.4-31.9%
   711 Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries104.64.44.4%-37.2-26.2%
      7111 Performing arts companies 214.83.126.5%-24.5-62.3%
      7112 Spectator sports 24.5-1.3-22.4%-8-64.0%
      7113 Promoters (presenters) of performing arts, sports and similar events 3xxxxx
      7114 Agents and managers for artists, athletes, entertainers and other public figures 3xxxxx
      7115 Independent artists, writers and performers69.7-1.8-2.5%-5.5-7.3%
   712 Heritage institutions281.45.3%-0.7-2.4%
   713 Amusement, gambling and recreation industries148.4-16.5-10.0%-93.6-38.7%
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, by selected industries, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality, December 2020. Calculations and data reliability notes by CAPACOA. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

Table 3.A – Total actual hours worked estimates (x 1,000), arts and culture industries, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality

Industry (with NAICS classification)Total actual hours (x 1,000), Dec. 2020c. previous month (%) Dec. 2020 c. Dec. 2019 (%)
Total, all industries6059563.4%-4.3%
51, 71 Information, culture and recreation 119853.41.2%-8.0%
51 Information and cultural industries13329.34.0%23.2%
   511 Publishing industries (except internet)2640.523.3%20.0%
   512 Motion picture and sound recording industries3376.78.4%39.0%
   515 Broadcasting (except internet) 21044.9-16.5%-11.1%
   517 Telecommunications4761.6-8.6%30.4%
   518 Data processing, hosting, and related services 3319.236.9%-35.7%
   519 Other information services 21186.437.4%37.7%
71 Arts, entertainment and recreation6524.1-4.1%-39.4%
   711 Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries2362.48.5%-35.5%
      7111 Performing arts companies 3xxx
      7112 Spectator sports 3xxx
      7113 Promoters (presenters) of performing arts, sports and similar events 3xxx
      7114 Agents and managers for artists, athletes, entertainers and other public figures 3xxx
      7115 Independent artists, writers and performers1469.11.7%-17.3%
   712 Heritage institutions 2880.510.7%-6.1%
   713 Amusement, gambling and recreation industries3281.2-14.3%-46.8%
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, by selected industries, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality, December 2020. Calculations and data reliability notes by CAPACOA. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.  

Table 3.B – Total actual hours worked estimates (x 1,000), other industries, Canada, unadjusted for seasonality

Industry (with NAICS classification)Total actual hours (x 1,000), Dec. 2020c. previous month (%) Dec. 2020 c. Dec. 2019 (%)
Total employed, all industries6059563.4%-4.3%
Agriculture10014.3-11.2%-6.2%
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas12648.64.1%-2.4%
Utilities5383.710.4%7.1%
Construction50428.3-0.6%-6.8%
Manufacturing64096.54.0%-0.3%
Wholesale and retail trade88409.74.2%-3.7%
Transportation and warehousing34654.54.4%-11.8%
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing43383.27.5%1.4%
Professional, scientific and technical services57055.55.5%4.3%
Business, building and other support services19382.3-2.9%-14.6%
Educational services45560.17.2%3.2%
Health care and social assistance76496.43.9%-0.2%
Information, culture and recreation19853.51.2%-8.0%
Accommodation and food services21728.4-7.1%-33.5%
Other services (except public administration)22266.3-1.9%-16.2%
Public administration34594.712.2%4.0%
Source: Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0036-01 Actual hours worked by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality.

Notes

  1. This series aggregates two distinct sectors. Statistics Canada aggregates culture industries in such a way in order to ensure data quality at small geographic levels. This aggregated series is included in order to enable some degree of comparisons with data tables published by Statistics Canada. The aggregation was performed by CAPACOA and no coefficient of variation for this series was provided by Statistics Canada. However, the aggregated data is presumed to be reliable because the coefficient of variation for each sector is very low.
  2. The sample for this series is small. Month-to-month variations in this series should be interpreted with caution.
  3. The sample for this series is very small. Data is unreliable and unsuited for release.

Additional notes about the Labour Force Survey

  • “Labour force” estimates are the number of persons 15 years of age and over who, during the reference week, were employed or unemployed. “Unemployed” means persons who were without work, had looked for work in the past four weeks, and were available for work. Unemployed persons retain the NAICS industry classification of their previous job. 
  • “Employment” includes full-time, part-time and occasional employees, as well as self-employed workers who worked during the reference week, no matter how many hours. Certain sub-sectors that include a large proportion of self-employed workers, for example, independent artists may therefore not show a significant drop because those freelance workers may still have been considered “working”.
  • “Total actual hours worked” is a good indicator of the impacts of COVID-related restrictions on the labour force, because it offers an account of both the number of employed workers and the hours they worked. It is a particularly relevant indicator for sub-sectors that include a lot of freelance and occasional workers (and who may be deemed as “employed” even if they only worked a few hours during the reference period).
  • These statistics are not adjusted for seasonality (whereas many Statistics Canada tables are). Many culture industries are subject to significant seasonal variations. In order to have a fair estimation of employment change compared to pre-COVID level, it is therefore preferable to establish comparisons with the same period in 2019 rather than with February 2020.
  • The “711 Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries” sub-sector is a larger industry grouping than the “Live Performance” domain used in the Culture Satellite Account, but it is a fair proxy that can be tracked over time. The 711 sub-sector involves activities that aren’t part of the live performance domain such as 7112 Spectator sports, as well as parts of 7113, 7114 and 7115. Definitions for each industry group are available in the North American Industry Classification System 2017. More details on the mapping between NAICS 711 and the live performance domain can be found in the Classification Guide for the Canadian Framework for Culture Statistics 2011.
  • Equivalent employment statistics for other sectors of the Canadian economy can be found in Table 14-10-0022-01 Labour force characteristics by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality and in Table 14-10-0036-01 Actual hours worked by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality

More information

More statistics from the Labour Force Survey in The Daily

Employment in arts and culture industries, November 2020

Prepared by: Frédéric Julien, Director of Research and Development.

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