4147.4.55.001 - Culture and Recreation News, Jan 2002  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/02/2002   
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ONE IN SIX AUSTRALIANS DOES CULTURE AND LEISURE WORK

One in six Australians aged 15 or over (2.5 million people or 17% of those aged 15 years or over) did some paid or unpaid work in selected culture and leisure activities in the year ended April 2001. The most popular culture and leisure activities were writing books and articles (536,900 people), visual arts (503,200), crafts (396,400), performing arts (364,600) and design, such as advertising and graphic design (349,800).

About one in three workers (36%) received payment for the culture and leisure activities which they undertook. People most likely to receive payment were those involved in television (65%) and in design activities (60%). People were least likely to get paid for activities such as organising art and craft shows (14%) and working on-stage in the performing arts (11%).

Similar data collected in 1993 and 1997 show substantial increases in the number of persons involved in several of the cultural activities over the eight-year period. The number of people who reported some work as photographers increased by 98% between 1993 and 2001, while the number of painters increased by 90% and the number of live music performers increased by 18%.

Main features of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia, April 2001 (ABS Cat No. 6281.0) are available free of charge on this site.