The arts and culture sectors accounted for more than $1 trillion of the US economy in 2021 and claimed a record share of the country’s economic value as the arts grew faster than the broader economy, according to new figures from the US government.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) published their data and analysis of the economic well-being of America’s arts and culture sectors for the year 2021 this week, as well as the impact these sectors have had on the country’s overall gross domestic product (GDP).
At the end of 2021, the arts and culture sectors accounted for 4.4% of the country’s GDP, with an all-time high of just over $1 trillion, and between 2020 and 2021, the economic value of arts increased by 13.7%, a disproportionate proportion. increase relative to the economy as a whole, which grew by 5.9% over the same period.
The report examined 35 business sectors in the arts, ten of which – comprising both performing arts organizations and independent artists, writers and performers – saw significant growth throughout the year, although none rebounded to pre-pandemic levels of economic output. (An interactive infographic found here allows you to browse the majority of these industries and see their individual economic contribution for 2021.)
The report also notes that art industries employed almost 4.9 million workers in 2021. While the figure marks a rebound after a decline in 2020, the number is still lower than the 5.2 million employed in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the number of workers employed by performing arts-related agencies increased by 14% in 2021 to 230,000 employees, but this figure was still significantly lower than the 323,000 workers who made up the industry in 2019. he film industry had similar numbers, with a 23% increase over this period but still a steep decline from 394,000 workers in 2019 to 326,000 in 2021.
One of the driving factors behind the employment divide between 2019 and 2021 is that the BEA figures only take into account salaried employees, and arts establishments may increasingly rely on freelancers or contractors. other contract workers throughout this period. (Those working in the arts are, in general, much more likely to be self-employed than workers in most other industries.)
“For me, one of the most amazing lessons is how quickly many industries in the arts sector seem to have rebounded,” says Sunil Iyengar, director of research and analysis at the NEA. “If you look at the aggregate numbers, for the first time in the history of the account, we see the arts contributing over $1 trillion to the economy.”
“Generally, I don’t think people realize the size of the economic footprint of the arts in this country,” he adds. “We are definitely seeing setbacks for major arts industries, but we are also seeing resilience.”
Along with this data, the agencies published a interactive map which allows users to track the estimated economic growth and output of cultural industries in all 50 states, showing that each has seen an increase over this period. Some 31 states and the District of Columbia all saw the arts increase their gross state product by at least 10 percent, and in 47 of the states and the District of Columbia, the economic value of the arts exceeded levels of before the 2019 pandemic.
The data presented in the report will be “very useful” for organizations and communities to understand the value of the arts and how to adapt to encourage industry growth, says Iyenger, but warns this is not the end , the be-all of the American cultural sector.
“Economics is just a way to communicate the value of the arts,” says Iyengar, noting that NEA invests in research on how the arts affect health, social cohesion and learning.
“In all these different ways of talking about the value of the arts, we get a clearer and more complete picture of what they contribute,” says Iyengar. “We’re not saying it’s purely economic, but at the same time we’re saying that if you didn’t know the arts mean a lot economically, this data will tell you it does.”
