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Artists

Artist Employment Projections through 2018
Drawing from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook: 2010-11 Edition, Research Note #103 discusses job prospects for artists and other selected cultural occupations from 2008 to 2018.  June 2011  103N
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Artist Employment and Unemployment: 1971 - 1980.
Figures from the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census make it possible to view trends in artists employment in light of those observed among all professional and technical workers.  January 1982  16R
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Artist Employment in 1982
Update using the data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1983. Includes analysis and comparison for 1975, 1980 - 1982 for the occupations of actors, architects, authors, dancers, designers, musicians/composers, painters/sculptors, photographers, radio/TV announcers, teachers of art, drama and music, and other artists not elsewhere classified.  January 1983  02N
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Artist Employment in 1983
An update for the year 1983 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1984. Also includes information on the revision of the Occupational Classification System, used for the first time by BLS in 1983.  March 1984  07N
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Artist Employment in 1984
Updating information for the year 1984 from the annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1985.  March 1985  11N
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Artist Employment in 1985
An update for the year 1985 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1986.  March 1986  15N
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Artist Employment in 1986
An update for the year 1986 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1987.  March 1987  22N
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Artist Employment in 1987
An update for the year 1987 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1988.  February 1988  29N
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Artist Employment in 1988
An update for the year 1988 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in January 1989. This note also discusses the trends in the individual artist occupations with regard to employment and unemployment from 1983 to 1988.  April 1989  31N
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Artist Employment in 1989
An update for the year 1989 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1990. This note also discusses the trends in the individual artist occupations with regard to employment and unemployment from 1983 to 1989.  September 1990  33N
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Artist Employment in 1990
An update for the year 1990 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1991. This note also discusses the trends in the individual artist occupations with regard to employment and unemployment from 1983 to 1990.  October 1991  35N
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Artist Employment in 1991
An update for the year 1991 of annual employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1992. This note also discusses the trends in the individual artist occupations with regard to employment and unemployment from 1985 to 1991.  November 1992  37N
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Artist Employment in 1992
This is an annual update of employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment in 11 artist occupations described in the note grew by 6% from 1991 to 1992. The unemployment rate in artist occupations also grew from 1991 to 1992 increasing from 5.3% to 5.7%.  July 1993  39N
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Artist Employment in 1993
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the artist work force declined from 1992 levels after two years of growth. The total artist work force fell from 1,735,000 in 1992 to 1,708,000 in 1993.  February 1994  54N
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Artist Employment in 1994
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was virtually no growth in artist employment from 1993 to 1994. The number of artists employed in 1994 stood at 1,622,000, only 1,000 more than in 1993.  July 1995  57N
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Artist Employment in 1995
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was substantial growth in employment in artist occupations in 1995, but the unemployment rate remained high.  October 1996  58N
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Artist Employment in 1999
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that more than 2 million people were employed (in primary jobs) as artists in 1999 - a gain of 76,000 workers over the 1998 figure. An additional 298,000 people held secondary jobs in artist occupations. This note also features a section on earnings and projected employment growth for select artist occupations taken from the BLS' Occupational Outlook Handbook..  June 2000  76N
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Artist Employment in 2000
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that more than 2 million people were employed (in primary jobs) as artists in 2000 -- a gain of 10,000 workers over the 1999 figure. An additional 295,000 people held secondary jobs in artist occupations. This note also features a section on earnings and projected employment growth for select artist occupations taken from the BLS' Occupational Outlook Handbook.  May 2001  78N
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Artist Employment in 2001
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that more than 2.1 million people were employed (in primary jobs) as artists in 2001 -- a gain of 72,000 workers over the 2000 figure. An additional 315,000 people held secondary jobs in artist occupations. This note also features a section on earnings and projected employment growth for select artist occupations taken from the BLS' Occupational Outlook Handbook.  May 2002  80N
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Artist Employment in 2003
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, in 2003, job market conditions weakened for the civilian work force and for most workers in artist occupations. In 2003, 8 million civilian workers were unemployed, representing 5.6 percent of the labor force. The 2003 unemployment rate for artists reached 6.1 percent (128,000 workers), up from 5.5 percent in 2002.  October 2004  87N
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Artist Employment in 2005
The 2005 labor market improved for the civilian work force and for most workers in artist occupations.  Employment in artist jobs grew to 2.1 million workers, while the artist unemployment rate declined from 5.1% in 2004 to 4.4% in 2005.  July 2006  90N
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Artist Employment in America
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number employed in eleven artist occupation groups grew from 1.6 to 1.8 million from 1995 to 1996.  April 1997  60N
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Artist Employment in America - 1997
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in artist occupations in 1997 continued to grow faster than in professional occupations as a whole (3.7% versus 2.6%). Total employment in the eleven artist occupations stood at 1.9 million in 1997.  May 1998  61N
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Artist Employment, 2000-2002
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that, in 2002, job market conditions weakened for the total civilian work force and for most workers in artist occupations. Unemployment among workers in artist occupations reached 116,000 in 2002, while the unemployment rate for artists hit 5.5 percent, up from 3.5 percent in 2000.  October 2003  84N
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Artist Labor Force by State, 2000
This note reports the state location of workers in 11 detailed artist occupations. It examines the state concentration of artists as a share of the total civilian labor force, and state patterns in the location of individual artist occupations.  May 2004  85N
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Artists Compared by Age, Sex, and Earnings in 1970 and 1976.
Census data compared with the 1976 Survey of Income and Education to reveal the changes in the size and composition of America's artist population during the 1970s.  January 1980  12R
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Artists Increase 54% in the 1980s
This note reports information from the 1990 Census of Population on artist occupations. The artist labor force in 11 occupations totaled 1,671,278 in 1990 -- a 54% increase from 1980. The note provides information on the size of the individual artist occupation labor forces as reported in the 1970, 1980, and 1990 censuses.  August 1993  40N
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Artists Increase 81% In The 1970s
Analysis of data from the 1980 Census of Population covering increases in the artist labor force for the 50 states and the District of Columbia.  April 1983  03N
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Artists Real Earnings Decline 37% in the 1970s
Median earnings are compared for artists in each of the eleven occupations for 1969 and 1979, the reference years used in the 1970 and 1980 Censuses. The Note contains both actual dollar earnings and constant dollar earnings (adjusted for inflation) and compares median women artist earnings in each of the occupations with those of men in both 1969 and 1979.  March 1985  10N
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Artists and Art Workers in the United States: Findings from the American Community Survey (2005-2009) and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (2010)
Note #105 uses multiyear averages from the American Community Survey (2005-2009) to enumerate the nation's artists and to describe their demographic traits, work patterns, and nationwide concentration. The Note also explores links between individual artist occupations and specific industries, and it reports occupational and industry patterns for workers who obtained arts-related degrees in college. Finally, the Note identifies state and metropolitan-level concentrations of employment within arts industries.  October 2011  105N
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Artists in Metropolitan Areas - 1990
This note provides estimates based on the 1990 Census of Population for artist labor forces in the 30 metropolitan areas with the largest number of artists. The note also provides information on the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of artists in their labor forces.  August 1993  42N
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Artists in a Year of Recession: Impact on Jobs in 2008
Artists are facing sharp increases in unemployment. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the artist unemployment rate reached 6.0 percent for a total of 129,000 unemployed artists.  March 2009  97N
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Artists in a Year of Recession: Impact on Jobs in 2008
An addendum to Research Note #97, which examines figures from 2009 as well as 2008 and the impact of the second year of the recession on artists.  January 2010  97Nu
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Artists in the Large Metropolitan Areas
Analysis of data from the 1980 Census of Population for the 60 largest Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas where 65% of the American artist labor force lived in 1980.  September 1983  05N
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Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005.
Artists in the Workforce: 1990-2005 is the first nationwide look at artists' demographic and employment patterns in the 21st century. Artists in the Workforce analyzes working artist trends, gathering new statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide a comprehensive overview of this workforce segment and its maturation over the past 30 years, along with detailed information on specific artist occupations.  June 2008  48R
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Artists in the Workforce: Employment and Earnings, 1970-1990.
This report examines employment and earnings trends in artist occupations from 1970 to 1990 using a variety of databases, including both large scale Federal surveys and smaller targeted surveys of artists groups. Alper, Wassall, Jeffri, Greenblatt, Kay, Butcher, and Chartrand.  1996  37R
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Changing Proportions of Men and Women in the Artist Occupations 1970 - 1980
A special study by the Bureau of the Census revised estimates of the 1970 Census in the light of the 1980 Occupational Classification System. The results of this special study were used in the preparation of this Note to compare 1970 with 1980 for all artist occupations in terms of numbers of the labor forceand of men and women. Among other things, the adjustments increase the base of women in some of the artist occupations, particularly designers, as a result of in-transfers from occupational groups that were not previously considered in the artist cluster of occupations.  March 1985  09N
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Dancemakers.
This report provides an analysis of the results of a survey of choreographers in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, DC. The survey obtained data on working conditions, financial status, performance opportunities, and funding for choreographers in each of the cities.  November 1993  28R
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Employment and Unemployment of Artists: 1970-1975.
Census data and Bureau of Labor statistics findings charted to compare employment and unemployment among various kinds of artists and the general labor force.  April 1976  01R
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Minorities and Women in the Arts: 1970.
Census data analyzed to describe the sex and minority makeup of our artist population.  January 1979  07R
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More Than Once in A Blue Moon: Multiple Job holdings by American Artists
An in-depth examination of artists' employment, specifically multiple jobholding or moonlighting, over three decades with comparisons to other professional occupations. The principal data source used is the Current Population Survey, a national Census Bureau survey sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- with highlights from smaller, artist-focused surveys included.  2000  40R
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Regional and State Trends for Artists: 1970 - 1990
This note provides state and regional estimates for artist occupations based on the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses of Population. All 50 states are ranked by the size of their artist labor force and the concentration of artists in the total state labor forces in 1990, 1980, and 1970. Regional estimates are also provided for the four major Census Bureau regions -- Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.  August 1993  41N
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Selected Characteristics of Artists: 1970.
Self-employment patterns, migration patterns, and household and family characteristics of artists as revealed in census data.  November 1978  10R
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Time and Money: Using Federal Data to Measure the Value of Performing Arts Activities
Research Note #102 examines large datasets from multiple federal sources to report on three broad topics related: 1) the total number, staff, and budget size of performing arts organizations; 2) U.S. consumer spending on performing arts admissions and other cultural events; and 3) Americans' daily time spent doing arts and cultural activities, including performing arts attendance. Measures of arts and cultural value that extend beyond mining federal databases are also reviewed.  April 2011  102N
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Trends in Artist Occupations: 1970-1990.
A report which discusses information on various characteristics of the artist population and its position in the U.S. labor force. Data are presented in demographic contexts, as well as by artistic discipline. Based on data extracted from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses of the Population conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.  1994  29R
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Understanding the Employment of Actors.
Data from the personnel files of Actors' Equity Association interpreted by researchers help explain theatre employment data systems and the complex conditions governing economic survival of actors.  September 1977  03R
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Where Artists Live 1980.
Analyzes the data gathered in the 1980 U.S. Census and compares them with the figures for 1970 to reveal growth and movement in the artist population.  March 1987  19R
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Where Artists Live: 1970.
Tables, maps, and text summarize census data that show national distribution of the American artist population.  October 1977  05R
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Women And Minorities In Artist Occupations
Analysis of data from the 1980 Census of Population comparing growth by women and minorities in the artist occupations for the 50 states and the District of Columbia.  July 1983  04N
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Women Artists: 1990 - 2005
Research Note #96 gives a detailed view of women artists, including patterns in the female composition of various artist jobs and in the earnings discrepancies between men and women.  December 2008  96N
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