A Creative PEC State of the Nations report updating the evidence on job quality in the UK's creative industries, and setting out how government and industry can go further and faster on Good Work.
Three years on from the Good Work Review, the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre asked Work Advance, working with the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, to revisit the evidence on job quality in the UK's creative industries. Published as a Creative PEC State of the Nations report, it updates the Review's quantitative baseline.
Using the same definition of Good Work and nearly 40 indicators from three major national data sources, we benchmarked the creative industries against the whole economy and, for the first time, against the other growth sectors in the UK's Industrial Strategy. We also examined how job quality varies across creative sub-sectors, for different groups of workers and for freelancers.
In many respects, creative work is good. Full-time employees earn 35% more than the economy-wide average, and creative workers have more autonomy and more say over their hours than those in any other growth sector. But the trade-offs persist. Job security and training participation are the lowest of any growth sector, and just 8% of workers are union members. The share of workers from working-class backgrounds has fallen from 25% to 21%, and freelancers face the sharpest trade-offs of all.
The report recognises strong momentum since 2023, and calls on government and industry to go further and faster. It sets out five priorities: wider adoption of Good Work standards, support for firms to meet them, a step change in skills investment, a wide-ranging programme for freelancers, and place-based partnerships. It was launched alongside a shared commitment to Good and Fair Work from arts funders across all four UK nations.
Job quality in the Creative Industries, 2026
Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, 2026
Heather Carey and Ruoxi Wang, Work Advance
Dave O’ Brien, University of Manchester
Revisiting job quality in creative work, three years on from the Good Work Review