This briefing paper is an output of a collaboration led by the University of Canberra in partnership with the Australia Council, the City of Sydney, the South Australian Government’s Department for Industry, Innovation and Science and the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.

The paper presents an overview of cultural and creative activity in Australia, drawing on custom tables of employment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ five-yearly Census of Australian Population and Housing.

Highlights:

• In 2021, the creative economy provided employment to 714,632 people in Australia.
• Creative employment is growing at a rate more than 50 per cent higher than the rest of the workforce, despite some sectors being hit very hard by COVID-19.
• On average, the creative industries employ 1.5 times as many people in support roles as in core creative roles. There are more people in creative roles working in industries other than the creative industries than within them.