New Jersey's creative sector workforce grew in past decade, but did not keep pace with rest of US

Over the past decade, the number of people working in New Jersey’s creative sector grew, but didn’t keep pace with the growth in the creative sector around the country. Unlike the steady growth in New Jersey’s creative sector establishments between 1998 and 2007, the number of creative sector workers has risen or dropped in waves, from a low of less than 143,000 in 1999 to a high of more than 156,000 in 2005. Most of the growth over the past decade has been in self-employed creative sector workers.  This is according to a new report on the creative sector workforce in New Jersey by Arts Build Communities.

Key findings of the report include:

• Between 1998 and 2007, the number of  creative sector workers grew from 143,329 to 149,227, a difference of 5,898, or 4%. During that same period, the number of creative sector workers in the United States grew 10%, from 4.31 million to 4.75 million.
  
• The growth in the creative sector in New Jersey lagged behind overall employment growth in New Jersey, which grew nearly 11%, from 3.83 million to 4.25 million between 1998 and 2007.2 Creative sector workers account for less than 4% of New Jersey’s workers.
  
• Self-employed workers account for the greatest  growth in New Jersey’s creative sector. In fact, if it wasn’t for self-employed artists, writers and other creative professionals, there would have been a slight decrease in the number and percentage of creative sector workers between 1998 and 2007.
  
• On average, there were about 147,000 people per year working in New Jersey’s creative sector. Like an ocean tide, the number of creative sector workers rose and fell annually, sometimes sharply. The creative sector workforce grew by as much as 6% one year and dropped by as much as 7%. Employment was lowest in 1999, at 142,854, and peaked at 156,185 in 2005.
  
• The size of New Jersey’s creative sector workforce fluctuated more sharply than the US creative sector workforce. For example, in 2000, the US creative sector workforce grew by 3%. In New Jersey, there was a 6% growth. In 2002, the US creative sector workforce dropped by 4%. In New Jersey, there was a 7% drop.
  
• The counties with the highest number of employees  per year are Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex and Morris. The counties with the lowest number of workers per year are Salem, Cumberland, Cape May, Warren and Sussex.
  
• The counties with the largest increase in workers  per year are Middlesex, Essex, Monmouth, Somerset and Gloucester.
  
• Although about half of New Jersey’s creative sector workforce was in the counties closest to New York, the fastest rate of growth was in the western and southern counties. The counties with the highest average rate of growth are Salem, Gloucester and Sussex. At the opposite end of the scale are Morris and Union counties, which had the highest average rate of decline in creative sector workers.
  
• The counties with largest decrease in employees per year are Morris, Union, Atlantic, Burlington and Hudson.
  
• The 31% growth in creative sector businesses (including self-employed businesses) between 1998 and 2007 has far outpaced the 4% growth in workers. This means that the creative sector landscape is getting more crowded with competing micro-entrepreneurs and tiny organizations.

To learn more and find out about the implications of this research for elected officials, public administrators, urban planners, economic development professionals and cultural professionals, read the full report.

--Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

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