Contents
- Freelance creative work statistics: how common self-employment is
- Freelance creative work statistics: income and pay security
- Freelance creative work statistics: hours and workload
- Freelance creative work: finding clients and career development
- Inclusion and access in freelance creative work
- Freelance creative work statistics: U.S. self-employed creative occupations
- Sources
Freelance creative work statistics: how common self-employment is
Census 2021 data show that self-employment was more common in creative occupations than across the workforce in England and Wales. The creative workforce numbered 1.15 million among usual residents aged 16 and older who were employed in the week before the census; approximately 31.5% were self-employed. Across all occupations in the same geographic and population frame, the self-employed share was 16.8%. These occupation-based measures describe employment status, rather than counting everyone who might use “freelance” as a label for their work. Creative PEC, Creative self-employed workforce in England and Wales
The self-employed share was 59% in the arts, culture and heritage workforce. That group is related to, but not identical with, the creative-occupation workforce, so 59% and 31.5% refer to different population definitions. They are not competing estimates of one freelance rate. Creative PEC, Creative self-employed workforce in England and Wales
Occupational categories also differed considerably. More than 80% of workers in each of the categories artists; actors, entertainers and presenters; musicians; and dancers and choreographers were self-employed. By contrast, fewer than 10% of workers in each of the categories librarian; IT business analyst, architect and systems designer; and programmer and software development professional were self-employed. These are threshold descriptions, not exact rates for each occupation. Creative PEC, Creative self-employed workforce in England and Wales
Place-based figures answer different questions depending on the denominator. Creative self-employed people represented 3.6% of Greater London’s total labour force, while self-employed people made up 33% of its creative workforce. In the West of England, creative self-employed people were 2.6% of the area’s total workforce, and self-employed people made up 33% of its creative workforce. The first percentage in each pair measures creative self-employment against the whole workforce; the second is limited to creative occupations. Creative PEC, Creative self-employed workforce in England and Wales
Two other local comparisons show why both scale and occupational status matter. In Greater London, self-employed actors, entertainers and presenters accounted for 0.4% of the total workforce, while 88.9% of people in those professions were self-employed. In the West of England, self-employed artists represented 0.3% of the area’s workforce; the area contained 90.8% of all self-employed artists within the combined authorities covered by the analysis. The figures respectively describe a group’s share of a broad workforce, the self-employment rate within an occupation, and geographic concentration among self-employed artists. Creative PEC, Creative self-employed workforce in England and Wales
Freelance creative work statistics: income and pay security
Arts Council England’s 2024 study gathered 5,000+ survey responses from freelancers across the disciplines it supports. Its findings describe participants, not a census of all creative freelancers. Among respondents, 73% reported annual pre-tax earnings below £25,000 from freelance work. This is a measure of freelance earnings before tax, not household income or earnings after expenses. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 2.1, p. 51
The same respondent group reported high levels of formal education: 91% said they had a higher-education qualification. Among respondents with higher-education qualifications, 52% reported a postgraduate qualification. The latter figure applies to the qualified subset. These education figures describe respondents’ backgrounds and do not establish a relationship between qualifications and earnings. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 2.1, p. 51
In the 12 months before the survey, 70% of respondents said they had sometimes or more frequently been offered work below agreed union or industry rates. Among respondents who had received below-standard offers, 70% said they accepted them some or all of the time, and 14% of that subgroup said they accepted them all of the time. The acceptance figures use the subgroup offered below-standard rates as their denominator; the reported results do not explain why respondents accepted the offers. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 2.2, p. 53
Retirement provision was another reported difficulty. Among current freelancer respondents, 68% said they were unable to contribute to a work-related pension or otherwise provide financially for retirement. By age group, 49% of respondents aged 65 and older reported being unable to pay into a pension or make financial provision for retirement; the corresponding figure among respondents aged 50–64 was 66%. These answers concern respondents’ reported ability to provide for retirement, not pension balances or future income. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 2.3, p. 54
A separate response concerned support from a partner’s income: 28% said they would not be able to stay working in the sector without a spouse or partner’s steady income to rely on when needed. This records respondents’ stated reliance on potential support; it does not indicate how many have a partner or the amount of a partner’s income. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 2.3, p. 55
Freelance creative work statistics: hours and workload
In the Arts Council England study, 18% of current freelancer respondents indicated that they currently worked 48 hours a week or more. This is a report of weekly hours at the time of the survey; it does not describe changes over a career or identify the tasks included in that time. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, executive summary, p. 42
Other responses address workload in relation to pay and agreed terms. During the preceding 12 months, 39% said they had been asked or required to take on more work than they were paid for, or work outside agreed contractual terms. Separately, 43% said they had been asked or required to take on more work than they could do within the paid hours. These measures record reported requests or requirements, not how much of the extra work respondents completed. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, executive summary, p. 42
For 46% of respondents, working hours negatively affected life outside work always, almost always or very often. Within that result, 14% selected always or almost always, and 32% selected very often. These are response-frequency categories for reported effects, not additional measures of weekly hours. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 1, p. 50
Respondents also described donated labour. One-third (33%) said that 51% of the work they did in the creative and cultural sector was unpaid, donated labour. The percentages use different denominators: 33% is the share of respondents reporting this, while 51% is the share of their work they identified as unpaid. It is not a sector-wide estimate of unpaid work. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 1, p. 50
Freelance creative work: finding clients and career development
The survey’s respondents reported different work arrangements. Among current respondents, 69% worked only or mainly as a freelancer, while 29% combined freelance work with PAYE work. These figures provide context for the survey: freelance work was not the only reported arrangement for all participants. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, executive summary, p. 42
Personal recommendations were the most commonly reported way respondents found out about work opportunities, named by 81%. Repeat bookings were reported by 56%. These figures describe opportunity-discovery channels; they do not measure the number of jobs each channel produced or the value of resulting work. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, executive summary, p. 10
Respondents also reported limited access to professional support and collective representation. Some 70% of current freelancers felt support such as mentoring, advice or supervision was unavailable when they needed it. Separately, 60% of study respondents said they were not union members. The first measure concerns perceived availability; the second is membership status. Neither establishes whether participants sought support or why they were not union members. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, executive summary, pp. 9–10
Inclusion and access in freelance creative work
Asked about inclusion in the creative and cultural sector, 47% of current respondents considered it not very or not at all inclusive. The same response categories were reported by 68% of non-binary respondents, 67% of trans respondents, 66% of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse respondents, and 59% of respondents who were deaf or disabled or had a long-term condition. These results show how participants in the named groups answered the question; they do not identify the reasons for their views. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, executive summary, p. 11; section 5, p. 61
In the survey, 23% of respondents self-identified as deaf or disabled or as having a long-term health condition. Among respondents in those groups, 63% cited stigma or lack of understanding as a challenge. The first percentage describes the full respondent group; the second applies to the identified subgroup and records a reported challenge. Arts Council England, Cultural Freelancers Study 2024, section 5.3, p. 63
Freelance creative work statistics: U.S. self-employed creative occupations
U.S. occupation data offer a separate view from the England and Wales census and the England-based freelancer survey. The Bureau of Labor Statistics table reports self-employment shares and total employment for 2022, alongside projected employment growth from 2022 to 2032. The growth projections cover all workers in each occupation, not only self-employed workers.
| U.S. occupation | Self-employed workers, 2022 | Employment, 2022 | Projected employment growth, 2022–32 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art directors | 58% | 135,100 | 6% |
| Special effects artists and animators | 58% | 89,300 | 8% |
| Set and exhibit designers | 59% | 27,800 | 7% |
| Fine artists, including painters, sculptors and illustrators | 59% | 29,100 | 5% |
Across these 4 occupations, the reported self-employment shares were 58% or 59%. Employment counts and projected growth rates varied by occupation. The 2022–32 growth figures are projections for each occupation as a whole; they are not forecasts specifically for freelance positions or measurements of changes after 2022. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fast-growing occupations with high rates of self-employment, chart data table