4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2007  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/06/2007  Reissue
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All  

EMPLOYMENT

Service Industry Surveys

The 2002-03 Television, Film and Video Production Survey found that businesses involved in commercial free-to-air television services in Australia employed a total of 6,577 people in June 2003. A further 2,517 people were employed by subscription television broadcasters.


Public broadcasters also employed a large number of people in radio and television. The ABC and SBS Annual Reports for 2005-06 indicated that in June 2006 the networks employed just over 5000 people and 795 people respectively.


Census of Population and Housing

Neither the Television, Film and Video Production Survey nor the ABC and SBS Annual Reports provide detailed breakdowns of the type of occupations in which people are involved in the radio and television industries. The 2001 Census of Population and Housing is the most detailed source of occupation information, although the data it collects relates only to a person’s main job, the job in which they usually worked the most hours. In August 2001, there were 17,386 people whose main job was in the television services industry and 5,862 people in the radio services industry. This includes people working in community radio and television.


Over half the people employed in the television services industry worked in cultural occupations as defined by the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (see Table 17.2). Common non-cultural occupations in this industry included inquiry clerks (709 people), electronic engineers (378 people) and sales and marketing managers (373 people).

17.2 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN TELEVISION SERVICES INDUSTRY(a), By occupation - August 2001

Number
Per cent

Cultural occupations
Media producer
1 989
11.4
Television journalist
858
4.9
Camera operator (Film, television or video)
779
4.5
Film and video editor
714
4.1
Director (Film, television, radio or stage)
562
3.2
Production assistant (Film, television or radio)
449
2.6
Sound technician
370
2.1
Actor
263
1.5
Television presenter
257
1.5
Other cultural occupations
2 756
15.9
Total cultural occupations
8 997
51.7
Other occupations
8 389
48.3
Total all occupations
17 386
100.0

(a) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
ABS, 2001 Census of Population and Housing, data available on request.


Like the television services industry, the majority of people working in the radio services industry in their main job worked in a cultural occupation (see Table 17.3). Common non-cultural occupations in the industry included sales representatives (495 people), general managers (299 people), sales and marketing managers (185 people) and public relations officers (111 people).

17.3 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN RADIO SERVICES INDUSTRY(a), By occupation - August 2001

Number
Per cent

Cultural occupations
Radio presenters
924
15.8
Program directors (Radio or Television)
747
12.7
Radio journalists
483
8.2
Advertising specialist
132
2.3
Sound technicians
117
2.0
Media producers
101
1.7
Other cultural occupations
647
11.0
Total cultural occupations
3 151
53.8
Other occupations
2 711
46.2
Total all occupations
5 862
100.0

(a) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
ABS, 2001 Census of Population and Housing, data available on request.


Work Survey

As data from the Census of Population and Housing relates only to a person's main job during a one week period in August, it may not capture those people who are involved in a less regular or voluntary capacity. The 2004 Survey of Work in Culture and Leisure Activities provides some indication of total involvement over a 12 month period. The survey found that over 75,000 people were involved in television and 93,000 were involved in radio over a 12 month period to April 2004. The majority of those involved in radio (69.7%) were unpaid while fewer were unpaid volunteers in television (36.2%).

17.4 Persons involved in broadcasting, By whether paid - 12 months ending April 2004

Television
Radio

Number ('000)

Some paid involvement
48.4
28.2
Unpaid involvement only
27.5
64.8
Total
75.9
93.0

Per cent (%)

Some paid involvement
63.8
30.3
Unpaid involvement only
36.2
69.7
Total
100.0
100.0

ABS, Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, April 2004 (cat. no. 6281.0).



Previous PageNext Page