Creative Industries Urged Not To Forget Census Following Olympics Frenzy

While Britain is recovering from Olympic gold fever, Creative Skillset is urging employers to keep the winning feeling alive by completing the creative census to ensure the Creative Industries remain at the top of their game.
This critical piece of work helps to keep our sector and key decision makers informed about the impact of the current economic climate on our industries, as well as the emergence of important demographic and diversity issues. We use insights from the census to determine where gaps or shortages are emerging in skills and talent and tailor our activities accordingly. But we need your help to get all the information we need to make the census as influential as possible.
Currently at the bottom of the Census ‘medal’ table are VFX and Commercials production and pop promos, with archives and advertising still in danger of not qualifying for the final. Film, television and facilities look set to take the medals for their speedy response, but will still need a late burst to top their previous personal bests. Still in contention are animation and computer games, but they’ll need a strong showing in this final leg if they’re to make it on to the podium.
Creative Skillset’s chief executive, Dinah Caine, said: “Using the 2009 census data we were able to work with UK Screen to submit evidence to the Migration Advisory Committee on job role shortages in the VFX industry, which resulted in them adding five new VFX-related job roles as official shortage areas and maintaining a further 12. This has allowed our VFX industry to remain the fastest-growing segment of the UK film industry despite a shortage of skilled graduates from the UK – truly a gold-winning performance.”
The last census also revealed that a disproportionately large number of women were leaving the television industry after the age of 35, sparking a wide-ranging debate about the working conditions in the industry. We were able to use these and other insights from the census to determine where critical skills gaps are emerging, and tailor our activities accordingly.
The census, which has been running since 1999, is the only project of its kind for creative media in the UK, and provides a far more accurate and detailed picture of our industries than any other official data sources. Our census is directed by an industry-led research committee and therefore captures the information that is of particular importance to the sector.
The results of our census are shared freely, allowing employers, training and education providers, policy makers and individuals alike to see the key issues affecting the creative media industries and inform decisions on how and where to invest in skills and talent.
Creative Skillset will use these findings to develop products and services, and ensure criteria for investment are in keeping with the industry requirements.
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