23,000 cultural workers in Canada are Jewish, including more than 7,000 artists and 2,200 arts leaders
First-ever statistical overview of Jewish artists, arts leaders, and cultural workers in the country
Using custom data that Hill Strategies requested from Statistics Canada’s 2021 long-form census, this article offers detailed statistics on Jewish cultural workers, including artists and arts leaders. The analysis provides counts and incomes of workers in the arts, culture, and heritage, with comparisons to all workers in the country.
Two weeks ago, I published two articles on Muslim artists and cultural workers in Canada (related to representation and incomes). Those articles, using a religion-only definition, provided some comparative information about Jewish artists and cultural workers.
However, sociology professor Robert Brym has noted that:
Who does the census count as Jewish? Conventionally, a “yes” answer to either of the following questions results in a Canadian being counted as Jewish in the Canadian census: (1) Does the person identify as Jewish by religion? (2) Does the person identify as Jewish by ethnicity and identify with no religion?
The second criterion is included in the count of Jewish workers in today’s article but was absent from my previous article. This provides a broader view of Jewish workers in the arts, culture, and heritage, including Jews by ethnicity who have no religious affiliation. People who identify as Jewish by ethnicity but practice another religion (a relatively small number) are not included here.
How the census counts workers, including artists and other cultural workers
The occupational perspective from the census includes people who work across the economy, as long as they are classified into one of 10 artist occupation groups, 5 arts leadership occupation groups, or 52 cultural occupation groups.
In the census, artists must spend more time as artists than in any other occupation to be classified into an artist occupation group. More specifically, occupational data from the census are based on the number of people who worked more hours in an occupation than in any other between May 1 and 8, 2021, plus people who were not in the labour force at that time but had worked more in that occupation than any other between January of 2020 and May of 2021.
The prevalence of “gig work” and the often-atypical nature of artists’ workflows can make it challenging for official statistics to count artists as artists. As such, census estimates of the number of artists might be low.
The 52 occupation groups included as cultural workers include the 10 artist occupation groups as well as the 5 arts leadership occupation groups, plus many other cultural occupations (e.g., graphic designers, print operators, editors, translators, architects, and professionals in fundraising, advertising, marketing, and public relations), and heritage occupations (e.g., librarians, curators, and archivists). Because the count of cultural workers includes both artists and arts leaders, the number of artists and arts leaders should not be added to the number of cultural workers.
For a deeper dive on the occupation classifications, please see my articles on the methods behind choosing the 52 cultural occupation groups and the strengths and limitations of the census for counting artists and cultural workers.
To ensure confidentiality and data reliability, no estimates of fewer than 40 people are presented in this article.
The challenging context of the pandemic in the spring of 2021 is important to keep in mind when interpreting census data on artists, which were collected in May of 2021. Income data from the census relate to the 2020 calendar year.
Context: All artists, arts leaders, and cultural workers in Canada
Across Canada, there are 202,900 professional artists, representing 1.0% of the Canadian labour force. Examined differently, this means that 1 in every 102 Canadian workers is an artist. (A full article on Canadian artists is available here.)
A similar analysis examines workers in arts leadership occupations in Canada, There are more than 56,000 Canadian workers in five occupation groups, which include individual occupations such as producers, directors, choreographers, conductors, composers, curators, conservators, and arts and heritage managers. Two of the arts leadership occupations (those including conductors and composers as well as producers, directors, and choreographers) are also included as artists. As such, the number of arts leadership workers should not be added to the number of artists.
The broadest analysis relates to the 914,000 workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations, representing 4.4% of all Canadian workers. The 52 occupation groups in this category include the 10 artist occupation groups as well as the 5 arts leadership occupation groups, other cultural occupations (e.g., graphic designers, print operators, editors, translators, architects, and professionals in fundraising, advertising, marketing, and public relations), and heritage occupations (e.g., librarians, curators, and archivists).
23,000 cultural workers are Jewish, including more than 7,000 artists and 2,200 arts leaders
Census data indicate that there are 23,000 workers in arts, culture, and heritage occupations who are Jewish, including 7,100 professional artists and 2,200 people who work in five occupation groups that are classified as arts leaders.
The 23,000 Jewish cultural workers represent 2.5% of all cultural workers in Canada, twice as high as the share of Jewish workers in the overall labour force (1.2%).
The 7,100 Jewish artists represent 3.5% of all artists in Canada, nearly three times higher than the share of Jewish workers in the overall labour force (1.2%).
The 7,100 Jewish artists pursue a range of artistic endeavours, and there are above-average concentrations in writing, producing, and directing:
1,500 are primarily writers (21% of Jewish artists)
1,500 are producers, directors, choreographers, and related occupations (also 21%)
1,100 are musicians (16%)
770 are painters, sculptors, and other visual artists (11%)
720 are actors, comedians, and circus performers (10%)
480 are photographers (7%)
330 are dancers (5%)
260 are artisans and craftspeople (4%)
190 are conductors, composers, and arrangers (3%)
160 are classified as other performers (2%)
Strong concentration of artists and cultural workers among Jewish workers
As shown in the following graph, artists and cultural workers are both much more strongly represented among Jewish workers than among all Canadian workers.
Jewish artists account for 2.8% of all 251,500 Jewish workers in Canada, which is nearly three times the concentration of artists among all Canadian workers (1.0%). Expressed differently, one in every 36 Jewish workers is an artist, compared with one in every 102 workers in the country.
Jewish cultural workers account for 9.2% of all Jewish workers, which is more than double the concentration of cultural workers among all Canadian workers (4.4%). Expressed differently, one in every 11 Jewish workers have a cultural occupation, compared with one in every 23 workers in the country.
There are many Jewish arts leaders in Canada, especially producers, directors, and choreographers
About 2,200 Jewish people work in five occupation groups that are classified as arts leaders. Two-thirds of Jewish arts leaders are in the broad grouping of producers, directors, and choreographers:
Producers, directors, choreographers, and related occupations: 1,500 (67% of Jewish arts leaders)
Managers in publishing, motion pictures, broadcasting, and performing arts: 390 (17%)
Conductors, composers, and arrangers: 190 (8%)
Library, archive, museum, and art gallery managers: 100 (4%)
Conservators and curators: 80 (3%)
Jewish people account for 4.0% of Canada’s arts leaders, more than three times higher than Jewish people’s share of all Canadian workers (1.2%).
Readers should be aware that the five arts leadership occupations are an imperfect approximation of the total number of people with senior level positions in the arts. “Arts leaders” is a category that I conceived of in 2022, based on a close examination of occupational classifications that are available from the census. While the grouping is quite broadly based, there are undoubtedly other senior workers in the sector who are not captured in the five occupation groupings. One example of known exclusions is some senior managers in the arts, including those in arts associations. The occupation groupings for senior managers are not separated based on the nature of their work or association (i.e., in the arts or in other sectors of society). Similarly, government employees with an arts-related portfolio at any level of government are not separated based on their portfolios.
Women cultural workers, artists, and arts leaders
55% of Jewish cultural workers are women, higher than the proportion of all Jewish workers (48%) but similar to that of all Canadian cultural workers (54%).
Exactly one-half of Jewish artists are women (including some non-binary people), slightly higher than the proportion of all Jewish workers (48%) but lower than that of all Canadian artists (54%).
Women are much less strongly represented among Jewish arts leaders (39%), but this is close to the proportion of all Canadian arts leaders who are women (42%).
Jewish artists have much lower incomes than other Jewish workers
Income data from the census relate to the 2020 calendar year, which included significant slowdowns in artistic activity. Because of the challenging context in that year, the focus of this article is on overall personal incomes, with employment and household incomes provided as additional information. Personal income includes all sources, such as employment income, net revenue from self-employment, pandemic supports, rental income, investment income, and others.
The median personal income of Jewish artists (from all sources) was $33,200 in 2020, 45% below that of all Jewish workers ($60,000) but 10% above the median of all Canadian artists ($30,200). The graph below depicts the differences in the median personal incomes between Jewish artists, all Jewish workers, all artists, and all workers in Canada.
Readers should be aware that these income statistics are the median across all 10 artist occupation groups. The relatively high proportion of producers and directors (the highest-earning artist occupation group) among Jewish artists will affect the income statistics.
Estimates of employment income include the work-related earnings of artists from all paid and self-employed positions that they held during the year. The median employment income of Jewish artists was just $10,700 in 2020, which is less than one-quarter of the median employment income of all Jewish workers in that year ($47,600). The median employment income of Jewish artists is 9% below the median of all Canadian artists ($11,700).
Household income provides a measure of the family situation of artists. In 2020, the median household income of Jewish artists was $98,000, 31% lower than that of all Jewish workers ($143,000) but 5% higher than the median of all Canadian artists ($93,000).
For all of the above statistics, median incomes were chosen as the key measurement, because the median should provide a better indication of the situation of a typical artist than the average (i.e., the “mean”), a statistic that is more strongly affected by a few individuals with very high incomes. All of the income statistics are shown before taxes.
Incomes of Jewish cultural workers
The median personal income of Jewish cultural workers (from all sources) was $46,400 in 2020, which is 23% lower than the median of all Jewish workers ($60,000) but equal to that of all Canadian cultural workers (also $46,400). The following graph compares the median personal incomes of Jewish cultural workers, all Jewish workers, all cultural workers, and all workers in Canada.
The median employment income of Jewish cultural workers was $32,400 in 2020, which is 32% below that of all Jewish workers ($47,600) and 16% below that of all cultural workers in Canada ($38,400).
In 2020, the median household income of Jewish cultural workers was $117,000, or 18% less than that of all Jewish workers ($143,000) but 7% higher than that of all Canadian cultural workers ($109,000).
Incomes of Jewish arts leaders
The median personal income of Jewish arts leaders (from all sources) was $58,400 in 2020, which is 3% lower than the median of all Jewish workers ($60,000) and 2% higher than that of all Canadian arts leaders ($57,200). In other words, despite their senior artistic positions, Jewish arts leaders still earn slightly less than other Jewish workers in Canada.
The median employment income of Jewish arts leaders was $44,400 in 2020, which is 7% below that of all Jewish workers ($47,600) and 11% below that of all arts leaders in Canada ($50,000).
In 2020, the median household income of Jewish arts leaders was $116,000, 19% less than that of all Jewish workers ($143,000) but 3% higher than that of all Canadian arts leaders ($113,000).
Jewish artists and cultural workers by province and city
Jewish artists and cultural workers are strongly concentrated in Ontario and Quebec. The breakdown by province and region follows.
Ontario is home to 58% of Canada’s Jewish artists and 59% of all Jewish cultural workers, both of which are similar to the province’s 57% share of all Jewish workers. On its own, the City of Toronto accounts for 40% of Canada’s Jewish artists and 38% of all Jewish cultural workers, both of which are much higher than the 27% of all Jewish workers who reside in Toronto.
19% of Jewish artists reside in Quebec, as do 20% of Jewish cultural workers, compared with 21% of all Jewish workers. The Ville de Montréal accounts for 12% of Canada’s Jewish artists, 11% of all Jewish cultural workers, and 9% of all Jewish workers.
British Columbia is home to 16% of Canada’s Jewish artists and 13% of Jewish cultural workers in the country, both of which are higher than the province’s 11% share of all Jewish workers. On its own, the City of Vancouver accounts for 8% of Canada’s Jewish artists, 7% of all Jewish cultural workers, and 4% of all Jewish workers in Canada.
The three Prairie provinces are home to 5% of Canada’s Jewish artists, 6% of all Jewish cultural workers, both of which are lower than the 9% of all Jewish workers who reside on the Prairies.
2% of Canada’s Jewish artists reside in the four Atlantic provinces, equal to the four provinces’ percentages of Jewish cultural workers and all Jewish workers.