AN UNEVEN EXPANSION AND BOUNCE BACK FOR CALIFORNIA'S CREATIVE ECONOMY

New Analysis Tracks Performance of State's 'Creative' Industries Before, During, and After COVID, Revealing Longer Term Direction

RIVERSIDE, Calif., April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- (www.ucr.edu)—The economy that houses industries such as entertainment, media, fashion, and fine arts in California has weathered the pandemic and, as a whole, done better in its recovery from the COVID-driven recession than the overall economy, according to a new analysis released today by the UCR School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development.

The study, Shock and Roll: California's Creative Economy from 2015-2021, examines trends in the state's creative industries prior to, during, and following the pandemic recession, finding that the Creative Economy has added a total of 70,064 jobs since 2015 and appears to be bouncing back to its 2019 pre-pandemic peak. Additionally, the Creative Economy workforce in California grew 8% over the study period, significantly faster than the overall workforce.

Even more impressive has been wage growth. On average, in California's Creative Economy, per worker wages have increased a spectacular 40% since 2015. Wages among Creative Economy workers were already relatively high in 2015 at 1.8 times the average California worker wage, but by 2021, the average worker wage in the Creative Economy was 2.35 times higher. Indeed, Creative Economy wages started higher and accelerated during the pandemic, even outstripping today's historic inflation.

"California is a global epicenter of the Creative Economy, and its industries are an engine of growth for the state and its workers," said Dr. Patrick Adler, Research Manager at the Center for Economic Forecasting, and one of the report's authors. "By looking at conditions and trends that were in progress before the pandemic as well as changes since, we're able to put the COVID shock in proper context; our main finding is that the 2020 disruption did not throw the Creative Economy off its previous gains."

The report's topline analysis comes with a critical caveat: Many different sectors, producing widely different kinds of products, make up the Creative Economy – and the findings indicate that both longer-term performance, and the more recent recovery from the pandemic, varies considerably from sector to sector with some soaring and others declining.

The Media sector, which includes Digital Publishing, is the true stand out the sector that keyed Creative Economy growth in the 2015-2021 period. Media currently makes up 31.2% of all Creative Economy employment in the state and accounts for over half (53.3%) of all the Creative Economy wages paid.

The Architecture and Related Services sector is the only other major creative sector that had more jobs in 2021 than in 2015; all the others have lost employment since 2015. Unsurprisingly, Fine Arts and Performance was hit hardest by the pandemic, given health mandated restrictions on group activity, and Fashion stands out as the one sector that has been in almost steady employment decline since 2015.

The complete analysis is available here.

Contact:
Victoria Pike Bond                             
415-488-7195                                     
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SOURCE UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development