The Recession's Surprise Survivor: The Arts
Submitted by Steve on July 8, 2011
From Jared Keller at the Atlantic:
If you can't imagine doing anything outside of the arts, you're in luck. Designers, writers, painters, and other creatives have a surprisingly bright future, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts (see also: NEA Announces New Research on Artist Employment Projections Through 2018.
Jobs for artists are projected to grow by 11 percent this decade, a bit faster than the overall workforce. The BLS category "artist occupations" is a catch-all for actors, architects, dancers, designers, photographers, and other cultural workers like interpreters and archivists.
Some of these so-called "creatives" will enjoy explosive growth. The NEA predicts that museum technicians and conservators will grow the most (by 26 percent) between 2008 and 2018, followed by curators (23 percent), interior designers (19 percent), architects (16 percent), writers and authors (15 percent) and actors (13 percent).