4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2009

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/10/2009

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EMPLOYMENT

This section covers employment in the museums sector using information drawn from two sources - the 2007-08 ABS Survey of Museums and the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. When making comparisons between these sources, it is important to take into consideration the different scope and reference periods of each. Further information on how the data sources differ can be found in Chapter 5.

Survey of Museums

According to the 2007-08 survey of Museums, there were 7,856 people employed in museums during the last pay period in June 2008. Of these, 2,509 (32%) worked for Art galleries, 2,050 (26%) worked for Natural, science and other museums, 1,886 (24%) worked for Social history museums and 1,411 (18%) worked for Historic properties.

This survey also found that 23,426 people worked as volunteers for museums during the month of June 2008.

Information on volunteers was collected as an 'end-of-June 2008 snapshot', whereas information about employees was collected during the last pay period in June 2008.

8.7 EMPLOYED PERSONS AND VOLUNTEERS, By museum type - 2007-08

			Employed persons						Volunteers
			Managers, administrators and clerical support workers	Conservators	Curators	Museum or gallery attendants	Security officers and other employed persons	Total(a)	Total(a)
			no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.

2007-08
	Art museum/gallery		851	95	347	^427	790	2 509	^3 741
	Other museums
		Social history	720	^63	^236	^389	^477	1 886	^12 752
		Historic properties/sites	389	21	^127	497	376	1 411	^4 898
		Natural, science and other	796	141	351	355	406	2 050	^2 035
		Total other museums	1 906	225	715	1 241	1 259	5 347	19 685
	Total(a)		2 756	320	1 062	1 668	2 050	7 856	23 426

^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
(a) Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between the sum of component items and the total.
Source: Museums, Australia, 2007-08 (cat. no. 8560.0)

Census of Population and Housing

The 2006 Census of Population and Housing presented a different perspective, with 6,412 people reporting that their main job (i.e. where they worked the most hours) in the week before Census Night was in the Museums industry. Of these, 41% were employed in cultural occupations such as museum and gallery attendants, curators, technicians or conservators. The 59% of museum employees not in cultural occupations included specialist managers, project and program administrators, security officers, general clerks, and education officers.

8.8 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN MUSEUMS INDUSTRY(a)(b), By occupation - August 2006

			Number	%


	Cultural occupations
		Museum or gallery guides	730	11.4
		Museum or gallery curators	589	9.2
		Arts administrators or managers	292	4.6
		Conservators	171	2.7
		Museum or gallery technicians	116	1.8
		Other cultural occupations	721	11.2
		Total cultural occupations	2 619	40.8
	Other occupations		3 793	59.2
	Total occupations		6 412	100.0

(a) Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.
(b) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
Source: ABS data available on request, Census of Population and Housing, 2006.

The Census identified an additional 1,136 people working in a museum-related occupation, but not in the Museums industry (e.g. a conservator working in a library). There were 315 Museum or gallery guides, 380 Museum or gallery curators, 212 Conservators, and 129 Museum and gallery technicians working in other industries.