On 30 April 2020, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport released their economic estimates of the number of jobs in the DCMS sectors in 2019.
The statistics show that in 2019 there were 5.3 million jobs in DCMS sectors, accounting for 15.7% of all UK jobs. The largest DCMS sector was the Creative Industries, followed by the Digital Sector.
In 2019, the number of jobs in the Creative Industries sector stood at just over 2.1 million, an increase of 3.0% from 2018. The number of jobs in the Creative Industries increased by 34.5% from 2011, which was more than three times the growth rate of employment in the UK overall (11.4%).
In addition to the Creative Industries, four other DCMS sectors experienced faster job growth than the UK-wide average. This included the Digital sector which in 2019 comprised of 1.56 million jobs, representing an increase of 20.6% from 2011.
The increase in employment can be in part explained by the latest Video Games Tax Relief figures. (VGTR). The latest figures show that there were 170 British video games completed in 2018-2019 which claimed VGTR, with UK expenditure of £492 million.
Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:
“The Coronavirus has had a significant negative impact upon many creative industries, but the latest economic estimates of employment in the DCMS sectors show the importance, performance and potential of the creative and digital industries. Sectors like video games provide high skilled employment in an export focused, high technology industry. TIGA strongly urges the UK Government to support the DCMS sectors throughout the current Coronavirus crisis to ensure that they can survive, revive and thrive in the months and years ahead.”