NOTES
An amendment has been made to erroneous data in the summary of findings. The first sentence of the last paragraph had stated: "There were almost 3.2 million persons who were involved in art and craft as a hobby activity only" has been changed to read: "There were 2.5 million persons who were involved in art and craft as a hobby activity only". Other figures and graphs in the main features are not affected.
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
This publication presents results from the Survey of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, conducted in April 2004. It presents information on the number and basic demographic characteristics of persons involved in paid or unpaid work in selected culture and leisure activities over a 12 month period.
ABOUT THIS SURVEY
The 2004 Survey of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities was conducted throughout Australia as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Monthly Population Survey (MPS). The survey was previously conducted in 1993, 1997 and 2001. Data from those years are included in some tables for comparative purposes.
The survey collected information on the types of activities undertaken, the time spent on activities, whether any payment was received, the amount of payment received, and whether those activities were part of the person's main job. Information is not available on length of paid employment as part of the person's main job. The survey also asked about whether any training in arts or cultural fields was received. For a list of the culture and leisure activities included in the survey, refer to the Glossary.
ROUNDING
As estimates have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Theo Neumann on Adelaide (08) 8237 7449.
SUMMARY COMMENTARY
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
INTRODUCTION
During the 12 months prior to April 2004, an estimated 2.9 million persons (a participation rate of 18% of the Australian population aged 15 years and over) were involved in some form of paid or unpaid work relating to the selected culture and leisure activities covered in the survey. Persons undertaking hobby activities only for their family or their own benefit, or who only attended culture and leisure events are not included in these figures.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONS INVOLVED
Sex
Overall, while a higher percentage of females (20%) than males (16%) aged 15 years and over worked in a culture or leisure field, the participation rates for paid involvement were similar for males (6.3%) and females (5.9%). Females had a higher rate of unpaid involvement than males, with 15% of females (1,152,100) having unpaid involvement only, compared with 10% of males (777,800).
PARTICIPATION RATE, By sex
Age
Participation in culture and leisure activities was highest amongst those aged 15 to 24 years and those aged 35 to 44 years (both at 21%). Participation in culture and leisure activities was lower in the older age groups, with 17% of those aged 55 to 64 years and 12% of those aged 65 years and over participating.
participation rate, By age
The participation rate for those receiving some payment for their involvement in culture and leisure activities was highest for those aged 25 to 34 years (8.7%) and 35 to 44 years (7.8%). The participation rate for those with unpaid involvement only was highest for persons aged 15 to 24 years and 35 to 44 years (15% and 14% respectively).
Across all age groups the participation rate for females was higher than for males.
Birthplace
Persons born in Australia had a participation rate of 20%, compared with 15% for persons born overseas. Persons born overseas in main English speaking countries had a rate similar to that for those born in Australia (21%), while those born overseas from other than main English speaking countries had a participation rate of 12%. Of those born in Australia, 6.4% received some payment for working in a culture or leisure activity, compared with 5.3% for those born overseas.
Geographic location
All states and the Northern Territory had quite similar rates of participation in culture and leisure activities (between 18% and 20%). However, the participation rate for the Australian Capital Territory was considerably higher at 29%.
The participation rate for residents in the state capitals (18%) was similar to that for residents outside the capital cities (19%). There was however a difference in rates for paid and unpaid involvement, with 6.8% of persons in the capital cities reporting a paid involvement compared with 5.0% for those outside the capital cities. Persons outside the capital cities had a higher rate of unpaid only involvement - 14% compared with 12% for persons in the capital cities.
participation rate, By state and territory
Labour force status
Of persons who were employed in the week prior to interview, 21% (or almost 2.1 million persons) were involved in a culture or leisure activity as part of their work at some time during the 12 months prior to interview. Unemployed persons and those not in the labour force had participation rates of 20% (111,000 persons) and 13% (719,000 persons), respectively. Persons employed part time (24%) had a higher participation rate than persons employed full time (20%).
TYPE OF ACTIVITIES
Information was collected for 35 different culture and leisure activities in this survey (see the Glossary for a full list of activities).
In 2004, there were 789,900 persons (27% of persons with any culture and leisure involvement) who had an involvement in visual art activities in the previous 12 months. This represents an increase of 57% from 2001 when there were 503,200 persons reporting an involvement in visual art activities. In 2004, large numbers of persons reported involvement in the following visual art activities:
- 300,100 who had involvement in photography (151,600 in 2001)
- 288,700 who had involvement in drawing (124,500 in 2001)
- 286,300 who had involvement in computer art (201,900 in 2001)
- 262,400 who had involvement in painting (154,100 in 2001).
Over half a million persons (556,500), or 19% of people involved in culture and leisure activities, indicated that they had some involvement through writing in the 12 months prior to April 2004, similar levels to that reported in 1997 (542,800) and 2001 (536,900). Writing for books, magazines, newspapers, journals and newsletters and creating scripts for films, television and plays are all included under this activity.
In 2004, there were 542,700 persons (or 19% of all persons involved) who had an involvement in craft activities. This was an increase of 37% from 2001 when 396,400 persons reported an involvement in craft activities. The craft activities attracting large numbers of participants in 2004 were furniture-making and wood crafts (204,500 persons, up from 123,900 in 2001) and textiles (144,300 persons, up from 94,400 in 2001).
Other activities with large numbers of persons involved in 2004 were:
- 423,900 in performing arts, or 15% of all people involved in culture and leisure activities
- 370,200 in design, or 13% of all people involved
- 336,500 in fete organising, or 12% of all people involved
- 305,200 in music, or 11% of all people involved.
Involvement in particular culture and leisure activities was quite different between males and females. During 2004, there were more males than females involved in furniture-making and wood crafts (166,300 males compared with 38,200 females), design (213,600 and 156,500) and interactive content creation (134,900 and 79,800). Females outnumbered males by more than two to one for the activities of fete organising (243,800 females compared with 92,700 males), performing arts (288,100 and 135,800), art and craft show organising (114,000 and 39,200) and library and archive involvements (66,400 and 21,400). A noticeably higher number of females than males were also involved in craft activities (334,500 females compared with 208,200 males) and cultural teaching activities (115,600 and 67,600), which exclude primary and secondary school teaching.
Persons involved, In 5 most popular activities, By sex
NATURE OF INVOLVEMENT
Payment status
More persons had some paid involvement in design (239,100), writing (185,500) and visual art activities (183,100) than any other culture or leisure activity in the survey (note: paid involvement includes persons who received payment in-kind). Design was also among the activities with the highest proportion of persons involved receiving payment (65%), along with television (64%) and interactive content creation (55%).
Of the 957,500 persons who received some payment, 108,800 (11%) received payment in-kind only.
The overall participation rate for persons involved in culture and leisure activities increased from 17% in 2001 to 18% in 2004. While the rate of paid participation was unchanged (6%), unpaid involvement only increased from 11% to 12% between 2001 and 2004.
PARTICIPATION RATE 2001 and 2004, By payment status
Duration of activities
Most persons involved in culture and leisure activities had only a short-term (up to 13 weeks of the year) or part-time (less than 10 hours per week) involvement over the 12 month period. For all activities the majority of persons were involved part-time. The activities with the highest proportion of persons involved part-time were glass crafts (97%), fete organising (90%), jewellery (89%), photography (88%) and painting (86%).
The activities that were most likely to be short term were fete organising (88%), art and craft show organising (81%), festival organising (79%) and film production (75%).
Design was one activity which tended to have involvements of a longer duration. Around 44% of persons involved in design did so for 10 hours or more per week and 57% of persons in design did so for more than 13 weeks of the year.
Income from activities
Because most people involved in culture and leisure activities had only a short-term or part-time involvement, their annual income from these activities was reasonably low. For example, of the 83,800 persons with paid involvement in music, around half of them (43,000) received an annual income from this activity of less than $5,000. This compares with 23,500 (70%) persons who received an annual income of $5,000 or more from their paid involvement in libraries and archives.
Involvement as part of main job
Of the 957,500 persons (33% of the total population involved in selected culture and leisure activities) who received some payment for their involvement in culture and leisure activities, 64% (612,500 persons) stated their involvement was part of their main job. The activities with high proportions of persons having paid involvement as part of their main job were libraries and archives (93%), publishing (77%), art and craft show organising (76%) and government arts organisations and agencies (75%).
TRAINING
There were almost 1.1 million persons who had completed training in an arts or cultural field. The most commonly reported areas of training were music (215,300) and design (182,800), while the least common were heritage (5,500) and librarianship (14,000).
Of all the persons who had completed training in an arts or cultural field, 73% were employed at the time of the survey, although the employment may not be in a field related to the training. The percentage of persons with training who were employed ranged from 52% for persons with training in heritage to 79% for persons with training in design.
Of the 1,094,500 persons who had completed training in an arts or cultural field, 56% had work in a related culture or leisure activity in the previous 12 months. Persons with training in librarianship were those most likely to be using that training as 60% had work involvement in a library or archive in the previous 12 months.
HOBBIES
Activities which were undertaken solely for the person's own benefit or for their families were classified as hobby activities. For this survey, data on hobby activities was only collected for art and craft, writing and music (see Glossary). Persons involved with a hobby activity only, i.e. they had no involvement in other culture and leisure activities, were excluded from the total number of persons (2,887,500) with involvement through work in culture and leisure activities.
There were 2.5 million persons who were involved in art and craft as a hobby activity only.. Likewise, 317,200 persons were involved in writing as a hobby activity only and 158,700 persons were involved in music as a hobby activity only.