Struggling artists, take note — your work contributes almost $100 billion to the Australian economy.
Next time someone tells you to 'get a real job', you can kindly point them towards a groundbreaking study by the Australian Bureau Of Statistics.
The study, which is the first to look at the economic contribution of the creative and cultural industries, has found that they added $86 billion to the national economy from 2008-2009.
That means that the creative and cultural industries were responsible for 6.9 percent of Australia's GDP for that period, which is a larger percentage than, say, the transport industry.
ABS Director of Culture, Recreation and Migrant Statistics, Andrew Middleton, says: "This new ABS release shows cultural and creative activity is a significant component of the Australian economy, in addition to playing an important role in the wellbeing and quality of life of the community."
In the period covered by the study, the creative and cultural industries employed 972,200 people. The biggest money makers were design ($26.6 billion), fashion ($11.8 billion) and publishing (literature and print media, $7.6 billion).
(Via The Music Network)
