Working Artists Losing Jobs, Leaving Profession

According to a study announced today by the National Endowment for the Arts, working artists are unemployed at a higher rate than other workers, and at a rate that is rising faster.

As a result, more artists are abandoning their profession.

The study, “Artists in a Year of Recession: Impact on Jobs in 2008,” looks at artist employment patterns in Q4 2007 and Q4 2008.

Artists are unemployed at twice the rate of other professional (i.e., college-educated) workers. The artist unemployment rate grew to 6% in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with 3% for all professionals.

Artist unemployment rates would be even higher if not for the large number of artists leaving the workforce. The US labor force grew by 800,000 people over the time period studied. But the artist workforce shrank by 74,000 workers. Some of this decline may be attributed to artists’ discouragement over job prospects.