|
Audio Visual Industry
Facts & figures
The audio visual industries are a key sector within the UK economy employing around 550,000 people. Women, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, older workers (over 50) and young people from disadvantaged areas are all under-represented in the sector.
Composition of the audio visual workforce :-
- 62% of the workforce is male, compared with 54% in the whole UK workforce
- 38% of the workforce is female, compared with 46% in the whole UK workforce
- Nearly half of those working in the industry are under 35
- There are more older men in the audio visual workforce than there are older women and more younger women than there are younger men; over half of female audio visual workers are aged under 35, compared to 44% of men in this age group, while 18% of men are aged 50 or over, compared with only 10% of women
- Differences in the representation of women exist by occupational group. Women constitute the majority of the workforce in make up and hairdressing (87%) and costume and wardrobe (87%), but a small minority of those working in camera (16%), broadcast engineering (15%), cinema projection (13%), lighting (8%) and processing laboratories (5%)
- 7.4% of the workforce is from a black, asian or minority ethnic origin , as half of the audio visual industries workforce is based in London it is relevant to draw a comparison with the proportion of ethnic minorities in the entire London workforce, which stands at 24%
- 5% of the workforce considers themselves to be disabled (as defined by the DDA)
- 70% got their first job via informal routes such as contacts
Home life
- Fewer women than men in the audio visual workforce have dependent children aged under 16 years
- Representation of people with dependent children is lower in the audio visual industries than in the UK economy as a whole
- Attrition occurs among women in the workforce in their early-mid thirties, possibly due to the demands of attempting to combine work with starting a family
- The pattern of working required by jobs has been highlighted as one of the most problematic barriers to parenting
- The cost and availability of childcare cost was cited as a key barrier to balancing parenthood and a media career for both men and women
Remuneration
- Women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the audio visual industries all earn substantially less than the average audio visual income, this is unrelated to the sorts of roles or areas of work, these segments of the workforce are being paid less than others for doing the same or similar work
- 38% of the audio visual workforce have done unpaid work during their career , this could be a barrier for new starters from underprivileged backgrounds
