The cultural sector in the EU employed 7.7 million people in 2022, representing 3.8 percent of total employment. Compared with 2021, it indicated a 4.5 percent increase from 7.4 million, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
The share of people employed in the cultural sector increased in 19 EU members and fell in the other 8. The most significant increases were recorded in Cyprus (+21.5 per cent), Luxembourg (+14.5 per cent), Ireland (+14.0 per cent), Sweden (+11.9 per cent) and Netherlands (+10.5 per cent). Meanwhile, the most significant decreases were recorded in Bulgaria (-7.7 per cent), Czechia (-7.3 per cent), Croatia (-6.3 per cent), Estonia (-5.3 per cent) and Latvia (-2.5 per cent).
In the timeframe 2019-2022, the most significant increases in annual rates of change for cultural employment were observed in Cyprus, which went from -5.7 per cent in 2019-2020 to +21.5 percent in 2021-2022, Luxembourg (-15.1 per cent to +14.5 per cent) and Ireland (-3.0 per cent to +14.0 per cent). The most substantial decreases were registered in Czechia, which declined from +5.3 per cent in 2019-2020 to -7.3 per cent in 2021-2022, Croatia (+6.3 per cent to -6.3 per cent) and Bulgaria (+4.1 per cent to -7.7 per cent).
France, Lithuania, and Portugal were the only EU countries with an increase in employment in the cultural sector both between 2019-2020 and 2021-2022. On the other hand, Estonia is the only EU country which experienced a decline during both periods.
Since 2013, the number of women in cultural employment has been increasing across the European Union, except in 2020. In 2022, the cultural sector recorded the smallest-ever gender employment gap with a difference of just 1.6 percentage points, corresponding to 3.93 million men and 3.80 million women (50.8 per cent and 49.2 per cent) employed in the sector.
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