Artists,employment and the Great Recession: A cross-sectional analysis using US Current Population Survey data |
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| Authors: | Joanna Woronkowicz |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USAjworonko@indiana.edu |
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| Abstract: | This paper uses cross-sectional data from the US Current Population Survey to examine employment behavior among artists before and after a major period of economic transition – the Great Recession. The analysis looks at employment behavior among artists as an occupational group compared to other creative class workers and analyzes trends in periods before, during and after the recession. The results suggest that as a result of the downturn, many artists changed occupations to non-arts-related work or left the workforce altogether; artists became self-employed, and new artists opted for self-employment over wage/salary work; artists were disproportionately adversely impacted – either unemployed or underemployed – than other types of workers. Level of educational attainment was a significant determinant of whether an artist maintained quality employment and stayed in the occupation of his choice; and gender and marital status had a bearing on artists' ability to remain employed as an artist and maintain quality employment. The analysis emphasizes the importance of examining specific occupations within the creative class before drawing broad conclusions pertaining to all occupations with this title. Future work will test the conclusions in this study by using longitudinal data on artists. |
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| Keywords: | artists employment recession determinants creative class Current Population Survey |
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