Share of culture in economy decreases further

The share of culture in the economy has decreased slightly in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to the latest calculations of the culture satellite of Statistics Finland.

The share in GDP was 3.1 per cent in 2019, which was 3.3 per cent in 2018.

The calculations are compiled at such a long delay because they are done only when the calculations of the National Accounts have been compiled at the most detailed level.

According to the culture satellite, both output and value added accounted for slightly over three per cent of GDP in 2019.

Examined at current prices, both the output and value added of culture decreased slightly and while both output and GDP grew clearly on the level of the whole economy, the share of culture diminished.

However, value added changed in different ways between cultural industries – growth was particularly seen in artistic, stage and concert activities, while the biggest drop was recorded in films, videos and computer games, and in amusement parks and other entertainment and recreation.

In 2019, the share of combined consumption expenditure of culture in all consumption expenditure fell further.

General government’s consumption expenditure on culture rose slightly, while private consumption expenditure fell somewhat, and combined, consumption expenditure on culture remained on level with the previous year.

As the combined consumption expenditure of the whole economy grew, the share of culture in consumption expenditure decreased, being now 4.2 per cent (4.3 per cent in 2018).

The share of culture in employment was 3.0 per cent in 2019. The culture satellite takes into account employed persons from the industries included in the calculation regardless of their tasks, while employment is considered in the cultural statistics both by occupation and industry.

The cultural statistics show growth in employment in 2019, while according to the satellite accounts, the number of employed persons in cultural industries would in practice have remained unchanged and the share of employed persons would have fallen relative to employed persons in the whole economy, as the number of employed persons in the whole economy has grown.

An estimate of employment based on the wages and salaries sum may underestimate the number of employees if the work is part-time, low-paid or short-term, which is quite typical in the field of culture. The falling trend in the number of employed persons in cultural industries that has continued since 2008 still does not seem to have changed in the cultural satellite accounts.

Although the share of culture in the economy has been falling on the long term, culture still has a fairly important role in the national economy, because its share of consumption is nevertheless good four per cent and its share of employed three per cent.