Workforce Insights from 2015 to 2023

Workforce insights: Demographics in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector from 2015 to 2023

As part of a three-part study, Statistics Canada has released a report detailing the demographic differences among employees in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, although within the arts itself, the study only examines performing arts. Independent artists, writers and performers are included in the study, though under the ‘Spectator Sports & Related Industries’ section, without explanation. That data has equally been included here. 

The study defines performing arts industries as theatre companies, musical theatre and opera companies, dance companies, musical groups and artists and then ‘other’ performing arts industries. They then split these organizations into non-profit and for-profit businesses. The study notes that nearly 64% of the revenues from non-profit performing arts organizations came from grants, subsidies, donations, sponsorships and fundraising in 2022. 

As many of these organizations rely on audiences, and therefore community participation, as many of us well know, the COVID-19 pandemic has had long lasting impacts. In 2021, total employment in the performing arts industries reached a low point, when it reached 57% of pre-pandemic levels, and while there has been some improvement, employment in 2023 still falls below pre-pandemic levels, at only 80%. 

The study examines the gender split between the performing arts industries – examining only the split between male and female employees. Overall, non-profit performing arts organizations have a higher proportion of female employees, and this gap has only widened in the eight years examined in this study: while in 2015, 59% of employees in non-profit performing arts organizations were female (with 41% male,) by 2023, the number of female employees has risen to 61%, with only 39% of employees being male.

The opposite trend is seen in for-profit performing arts industries, though the disparity is not quite so stark: in 2015, 54% of for-profit performing arts employees were male, with only 46% being female, while in 2023, the percentage of male employees has risen to 56%, and female employees have fallen to 44%. 

Musical theatre & opera companies and the ‘other’ performing arts companies have the closest to an equal gender split: with musical theatre & opera having 55% female to 45% male employees in 2023 (fairly consistent with the 53%/47% seen in 2015;) and other performing arts companies being comprised of 48% female and 52% male in 2023, and in 2015 as well. Independent artists, writers and performers are fairly close to even as well, though they have seen a slight decline in the number of men, with only 44% of the workforce being male in 2023, down from nearly 49% in 2015.

Non-musical theatre companies as well as dance companies are predominantly female. Non-musical theatre companies have 61% female employees (up from 58% in 2015) and 39% male (from 42% in 2015.) Dance companies are 79% female, as they were in 2015, with only 21% of their employees being male. 

The opposite is seen in musical groups & artists, where, like the other sectors the ratios have remained fairly steady, but the majority of employees are male: 61% of employees are male in 2023, as they were in 2015, with only 39% being female. 

The performing arts industries show a wide-range of employee ages, with 62% falling within the range of 25-54 in 2023, with only 13% of employees aged over 65 and 11% aged under 24. The largest employee share (25%) was aged 25-34. Independent artists, writers and performers follow the same trend, with 56% of the workforce aged between 25-54, though the largest proportion of workers in this case are aged 35-44, comprising 21%. 

The performing arts sector heavily relies on part-time work, with the study attributing this to seasonal employment and changes in event scheduling. 75% of the the total performing arts workforce was employed part-time in 2023, with younger employees tending to be more likely to be employed part-time: 85% of employees aged 34 and under were employed only part-time, though 60% aged over 35 were employed full time. This does not appear to have changed significantly in the past eight years.

This data is different for independent artists, writers and performers, where the split appears to be more even, with 57% of employees holding part-time positions in 2023, down from 64% in 2015.