Huge differences in the changes in cultural jobs between the provinces and territories

Long-term analysis (2010 to 2022) and more recent changes (2019 to 2022)

Today’s post analyzes changes in jobs in the arts, culture, and heritage, using recently released data for 2022. The post follows last week’s examination of changes in GDP. While last week’s GDP analysis included adjustments for inflation and population growth, the jobs data need no such adjustments.

Between 2010 and 2022, more provinces and territories had increases in cultural jobs than in GDP, but the changes in cultural jobs were very inconsistent across the country. Six provinces and territories saw increases; six saw decreases; and one saw essentially no change in cultural jobs.

The data source is Statistics Canada’s Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2022, which includes the following aspects of the arts, culture, and heritage:

• written and published works

• visual and applied arts

• sound recording

• live performance

• heritage and libraries

• audiovisual and interactive media

• government-owned cultural institutions (which are excluded from other areas)

• education and training

Additional notes regarding the dataset are provided at the end of this post.