Overview – July 2010

The arts and recreation sector employed approximately 40,000 people as at the December 2009 quarter, or 2% of New Zealand’s total workforce¹.

This Employment and Skills Snapshot breaks the sector into four subsectors: sport and recreation activities; heritage activities; artistic activities; and gambling activities. It then takes a closer look at:

• employment within the various subsectors that make up this sector
• the qualifications of their employees
• the demographic profile of these workers.

Employment trends

New Zealand had 4% employment growth in the five years to December 2009. During this time, employment within the arts and recreation sector has shown moderate growth, as illustrated by Figure 1 below. Over the five years to December 2009, employment within this industry has grown by 7% (2,620 employees) to 40,000. However, there has been a marked decline since the start of the recession: employment fell 8% during the year to December 2009.

Figure 1: Arts and recreation employment

Data table for Figure 1

Table 1 below shows the different growth rates of employment in the subsectors which represent the arts and recreation services sector. For the two largest subsectors:

• employment in the sport and recreation activities subsector increased by around 4% (940 people) in the five years to December 2009
• employment in the heritage activities subsector increased by around 27% (1,390 people).

 

Table 1 : Employment by subsector (December 2004 – December 2009)

Subsector	Employment (Dec. 09)	Share of sector employment	Employment growth (2004 - 2009)	Absolute employment growth (2004 - 2009)
New Zealand total	2,175,000	-	4%	91,800
Sport and recreation  activities	24,160	60%	4%	940
Heritage activities	6,570	16%	27%	1,390
Artistic activities	5,180	13%	-1%	-40
Gambling activities	4,090	10%	9%	330
Arts and recreational services total	40,000	-	7%	2,620

Source:  Department of Labour Employment Estimates

The 4% increase in the sports and recreation activities subsectors employment was stimulated by increased funding for Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) from both the central government and the Lottery Grant Board, with total funding increasing from $62 million in 2003/04 to $111 million 2009.

Qualifications

The qualification mix of employees across the entire sector approximately matches that of the New Zealand workforce as a whole. However, the qualification mix within subsectors varies considerably, as shown in Table 2. In particular, the heritage and artistic activities subsectors have more than twice the proportion of employees with a degree-level qualification or higher, compared to the sport, recreation and gambling activities subsectors, and a correspondingly lower share of employees with school-level qualifications only.

Table 2 : Qualifications by subsector, 2006

Subsector	No formal qualification	School qualification	Cert. or diploma	Bachelor degree or higher
New Zealand Total	19%	35%	27%	19%
Heritage activities	10%	28%	24%	38%
Artistic activities	8%	33%	25%	34%
Sport and recreation activities	14%	43%	26%	17%
Gambling activities	15%	48%	21%	16%
Arts and recreational services total	12%	39%	25%	23%

Source:  Census of Population and Dwellings, 2006

Demographic profile

Workers in the artistic activities and heritage activities subsectors have broadly similar demographic characteristics in terms of their age and gender distributions, while workers in the other two subsectors have quite different demographics.

Figure 2 below shows that the artistic activities and heritage activities subsectors had a very similar demographic to the general New Zealand trend, with the exception of a slight under-representation of workers below 20 years of age - presumably because younger workers may still be gaining the overall higher level of qualifications prevalent within these subsectors.

Figure 2: Age and gender profile of the artistic and heritage subsectors

Data table for Figure 2

Figure 3 highlights that the sport and recreation activities subsector had a much higher representation of workers aged below 30 years than the New Zealand national trend – presumably because of the lower levels of qualifications held by employees in the subsector there are less barriers to entry for youth.

Figure 3: Age and gender profile of the sports and recreation subsector

Data table for Figure 3

Source:  Census of Population and Dwellings, 2006

Figure 4 indicates that the gambling activities subsector had a higher representation of workers aged between 20 and 39 years, but much lower representation of workers under 20 than the New Zealand national trend. This under-representation is not surprising given age restrictions on working in gaming premises.

Figure 4: Age and gender profile of the gambling activities subsector

Data table for Figure 4

Source: Census of Population and Dwellings, 2006

Summary

Over the last five years, the arts and recreation services sector has seen employment increase by 7%. The heritage and artistic subsectors had very similar demographics to the New Zealand population as a whole, while the sport and recreation activities subsector had a much higher proportion of people under the age of 30 years. In the future, employment in this subsector will likely be influenced by policy changes regarding SPARC funding.

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