118,820 people worked in cultural arena in 2019

The employment development was favourable in both the national economy and the fields of culture.

According to Statistics Finland, employment in cultural industries was around 118,820 (95% confidence interval +- 3,300). The growth from the year before amounted to 1.6 per cent.

According to the definition of the Labour Force Survey, a person is employed if he/she has during the survey week been in gainful employment for at least one hour against pay in money or fringe benefits, or to make a profit.

Employees temporarily absent from work during the survey week are also classified as employed, if the reason for absence is maternity or paternity leave or illness and if the absence has lasted for under three months. A self-employed person or an unpaid worker in an enterprise of a family member is calculated in employed, regardless of the length or reason for absence.

The main job is the only or main paid job of an employed person. If there are several jobs, the main job is usually the one on which most time is spent or from which the income earned is the highest. The definition of the main and secondary job is based on the respondent’s own reporting.

A considerably large share of the people working in cultural occupations was self-employed. Seventy-two per cent of them were working as wage- and salary-earners and 28 per cent were self-employed, while the shares in other occupations were 87 and 13 per cent respectively.

Only 60 per cent of those employed in cultural occupations had a permanent employment relationship, while the corresponding share for those working in other occupations was 73 per cent.

Persons working in cultural occupations often perform project-type short-term jobs, and several simultaneous jobs are also common. Around 10 per cent of those in cultural occupations had more than one job and about six per cent of them were working in other occupations in 2019.