EMPLOYMENT
Service Industry Surveys
The 2002-03 Television, Film and Video Production Survey found that businesses involved in commercial free-to-air television services in Australia employed a total of 6,577 people in June 2003. A further 2,517 people were employed by subscription television broadcasters.
Public broadcasters also employed a large number of people in radio and television. The ABC and SBS Annual Reports for 2005-06 indicated that in June 2006 the networks employed just over 5000 people and 795 people respectively.
Census of Population and Housing
Neither the Television, Film and Video Production Survey nor the ABC and SBS Annual Reports provide detailed breakdowns of the type of occupations in which people are involved in the radio and television industries. The 2001 Census of Population and Housing is the most detailed source of occupation information, although the data it collects relates only to a person’s main job, the job in which they usually worked the most hours. In August 2001, there were 17,386 people whose main job was in the television services industry and 5,862 people in the radio services industry. This includes people working in community radio and television.
Over half the people employed in the television services industry worked in cultural occupations as defined by the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (see Table 17.2). Common non-cultural occupations in this industry included inquiry clerks (709 people), electronic engineers (378 people) and sales and marketing managers (373 people).
17.2 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN TELEVISION SERVICES INDUSTRY(a), By occupation - August 2001 |
|  |
| | Number | Per cent | |
| |
| Cultural occupations | | | |
| Media producer | 1 989 | 11.4 | |
| Television journalist | 858 | 4.9 | |
| Camera operator (Film, television or video) | 779 | 4.5 | |
| Film and video editor | 714 | 4.1 | |
| Director (Film, television, radio or stage) | 562 | 3.2 | |
| Production assistant (Film, television or radio) | 449 | 2.6 | |
| Sound technician | 370 | 2.1 | |
| Actor | 263 | 1.5 | |
| Television presenter | 257 | 1.5 | |
| Other cultural occupations | 2 756 | 15.9 | |
| Total cultural occupations | 8 997 | 51.7 | |
| Other occupations | 8 389 | 48.3 | |
| Total all occupations | 17 386 | 100.0 | |
| |
| (a) In their main job in the week before Census Night. |
| ABS, 2001 Census of Population and Housing, data available on request. |
Like the television services industry, the majority of people working in the radio services industry in their main job worked in a cultural occupation (see Table 17.3). Common non-cultural occupations in the industry included sales representatives (495 people), general managers (299 people), sales and marketing managers (185 people) and public relations officers (111 people).
17.3 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN RADIO SERVICES INDUSTRY(a), By occupation - August 2001 |
| |
| | Number | Per cent | |
| |
| Cultural occupations | | | |
| Radio presenters | 924 | 15.8 | |
| Program directors (Radio or Television) | 747 | 12.7 | |
| Radio journalists | 483 | 8.2 | |
| Advertising specialist | 132 | 2.3 | |
| Sound technicians | 117 | 2.0 | |
| Media producers | 101 | 1.7 | |
| Other cultural occupations | 647 | 11.0 | |
| Total cultural occupations | 3 151 | 53.8 | |
| Other occupations | 2 711 | 46.2 | |
| Total all occupations | 5 862 | 100.0 | |
| |
| (a) In their main job in the week before Census Night. |
| ABS, 2001 Census of Population and Housing, data available on request. |
Work Survey
As data from the Census of Population and Housing relates only to a person's main job during a one week period in August, it may not capture those people who are involved in a less regular or voluntary capacity. The 2004 Survey of Work in Culture and Leisure Activities provides some indication of total involvement over a 12 month period. The survey found that over 75,000 people were involved in television and 93,000 were involved in radio over a 12 month period to April 2004. The majority of those involved in radio (69.7%) were unpaid while fewer were unpaid volunteers in television (36.2%).
17.4 Persons involved in broadcasting, By whether paid - 12 months ending April 2004 |
| |
| Television | Radio | |
Number ('000) | |
| |
| Some paid involvement | 48.4 | 28.2 | |
| Unpaid involvement only | 27.5 | 64.8 | |
| Total | 75.9 | 93.0 | |
Per cent (%) | |
| |
| Some paid involvement | 63.8 | 30.3 | |
| Unpaid involvement only | 36.2 | 69.7 | |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| |
| ABS, Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, April 2004 (cat. no. 6281.0). |
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