Cultural Tourism

NEA Arts Data Profile Series: Issue 1

National Overview

There are 2,081,735 million artists in the United States, identified by the occupation to which they which devoted the most hours in a given week. These artists fall into one of 11 occupations, and together they compose 1.35 percent of the total workforce.

“Equal Opportunity Data Mining: National Statistics about Working Artists”

Title of Dataset
EEO Tables for 2006-2010

Periodicity
Every 10 Years

Source/Sponsor
U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey; Multiple Agencies

Research Topic
Artists in the Workforce; Other Arts/Cultural Occupations

Notable Features

• Micro-geographic coverage. Data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, metro and micro areas; counties; and “places”

• Detailed occupations (including self-employed workers)

• Demographic and socioeconomic variables include age, gender, race and ethnicity, citizenship, disability status, industry affiliation, earnings, education level, employment status, place of residency, and place of work

The U.S. Commerce Department today released a comprehensive report, entitled “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus,” which finds that intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries support at least 40 million jobs and contribute more than $5 trillion dollars to, or 34.8 percent of, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).  

The report has several important findings, including:

• IP-intensive industries contributed $5.06 trillion to the U.S. economy or 34.8 percent of GDP in 2010.
• 40 million jobs, or 27.7 percent of all jobs, were directly or indirectly attributable to the most IP-intensive industries in 2010.
• Between 2010 and 2011, the economic recovery led to a 1.6 percent increase in direct employment in IP-intensive industries, faster than the 1.0 percent growth in non-IP-intensive industries.
• Merchandise exports of IP-intensive industries totaled $775 billion in 2010, accounting for 60.7 percent of total U.S. merchandise exports.

The FY11 Arts and Culture Economic and Community Impact Report provides evidence that arts and cultural organizations are instrumental in making San Diego a vibrant city. The report found that the 68 arts and culture organizations funded with $5.8 million by the Commission’s OSP program stimulate the economy with over $170 million in expenditures. The report noted that economic activity created by cultural tourists, which spend more and stay longer, is particularly important to San Diego, creating jobs and attracting revenue. In 2011, over 2 million visitors participated in arts and cultural events funded by the Commission – supporting the local economy including hotel expenditures that directly contribute to Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue. In addition, the 68 Commission-funded arts and culture organizations employ a workforce of more than 6,000.

The report also noted that the San Diego region is home to 4,631 arts-related businesses, both for profit and nonprofit, ranking 7th among the top largest US cities – ahead of Seattle, Phoenix, Denver and Philadelphia according to Creative Industries research conducted by Americans for the Arts. These businesses employ 22,727 people, placing San Diego 9th in the nation.