I just received an email that includes this:
NEA ANNOUNCES NEW RESEARCH NOTE ON ARTISTS IN THE WORKFORCE
Research offers industry-specific, regional, and demographic data on the 2.1 million artists working in the U.S.
There are 2.1 million artists in the United States workforce, and a large portion of them – designers – contribute to industries whose products Americans use every day, according to new research from the National Endowment for the Arts. Artists and Arts Workers in the United States offers the first combined analysis of artists and industries, state and metro employment rates, and new demographic information such as age, education levels, income, ethnicity, and other social characteristics.
In the study:
- Artists are highly entrepreneurial. They are 3.5 times more likely than the total U.S. workforce to be self-employed.
- Artists are generally more educated than other workers. Over half of all artists have received at least a bachelor’s degree.
- Artists are less likely than other workers to have full-year or full-time employment, which partly accounts for their annual median incomes being lower than those of workers with similar education levels.
If you click on this link you can then see the link to the pdf, in case you’re interested.
Me? I’m thankful I’ve been at this since 1975. I love my life and I’m grateful to have worked fairly steadily from fall to spring since the start of my career. And, truth be told, I’m better off financially than so much of the world. I really can’t complain.
Except about reeds, of course.
