The four worlds of creative employees: the role of education level and job-education match

Creative industries have been perceived by policymakers as a promising driver of socio-economic development and a sector of talent concentration in many countries. However, studies of creative employment are relatively scarce, especially those regarding developing and transition economies. This paper explores the heterogeneity of the creative workforce by providing the first multifaceted analysis of its employment, educational and localization characteristics in 2017-2021 based on data from the Russian Labor Force Survey. The results demonstrate that substantial growth in creative employment was mainly due to the increase in the number of IT, marketing and public relations professionals. Four patterns of employment by education level and job-education match were identified - the post-industrial creative class, the cultural class, and artistic and traditional crafts - which differ by sociodemographic and employment characteristics. Finally, the study provides evidence that creative employment is concentrated predominantly in regions with city populations of over one million.

Automated summary

The study finds that the growth in creative employment is mainly driven by an increase in IT, marketing, and public relations professionals. The research also reveals the heterogeneity of the creative workforce in terms of employment, education, and localization characteristics. Creative employment is predominantly concentrated in regions with city populations of over one million.