A Creative PEC State of the Nations Report
As the dust settles on the UK government’s Immigration White Paper, the creative industries reflect on what tighter restrictions might mean. This report outlines how important it is that the migration system works to meet the sector’s needs as one of the Government’s priority growth sectors. From architecture to video games and digital design, the sector is internationally connected, innovation-driven, and highly reliant on an exceptionally skilled workforce (with over 75% of workers having a degree), while also facing big skills shortages.
This research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) is the first to fill the evidence gap in relation to migration, creative occupations and creative industries, by providing detailed statistics on sector trends, rates of growth, country of origin and distribution across the UK.
Key findings
- Since 2021 there has been a 70% increase in temporary visas for creative occupations vs a 13.5% increase for non-creative occupations.
- During the same period, across all types of (longer stay) Worker visas, those granted for creative occupations increased by only 8% and for non-creative occupations by 233% (106% if Health and Care visas are excluded).
- ‘IT, Software and Computer Services’ sub-sector grew by 58.3% GVA between 2010-2023, this correlates with the growth in visas being granted to skilled workers from Asia (in particular India) in occupations related to this subsector.
- 65% of all visas granted to creative workers were in ‘IT, software and computer services.’
- The next most common creative occupations sponsored by visas are ‘Actors, entertainers and presenters’ (7.5% of all visas granted to creative workers), ‘Musicians’ (5.5%), ‘Marketing associate professionals’ (4.6%), ‘Arts officers, producers and directors’ (3.9%), ‘Marketing and sales directors’ (3.1%), ‘Graphic designers’ (2.2%) and ‘Artists’ (1.6%).
- More than half of non-UK creative workers being granted a new visa were from Asia (62.6%), followed by the rest of Europe (16.8%), Americas (9.1%) and Africa (9.1%). More than half of the granted new creative visas came from India (53%), with the next country, the US, accounting for just 5%.
- In 2024, 16.2% of the creative industries workforce was accounted for by non-UK workers, up from to 11.6% in 2014. This compares with 14.4% of non-UK workers employed in non-creative industries, up from 9.3% in 2014.
- There is a greater reliance in the creative industries on overseas workers: ‘IT, software and computer services’, ‘advertising and marketing’, ‘museum, galleries and libraries’, ‘crafts’, ‘design and designer fashion’ and ‘publishing’ all show a higher likelihood of working in the creative industries (vs non-creative ones) for non-UK compared to UK workers.
Watch the launch event
If you missed the launch event, you can watch a recording below. Featuring report authors Dr Sara Maioli and Dr Daniel Simandjuntak, with special guests Dr Madeleine Sumption and Marta Foresti.
What are State of the Nations reports?
Creative PEC’s ‘State of the Nations’ series analyses the latest data across four thematic areas to inform the development of policies relating to the creative industries. Their scope is the whole of the United Kingdom, and wherever possible data is presented for all the nations and regions. Regular reports on each area will be published biannually over the five yours of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding. The themes and corresponding Research Consortium Partners are:
- R&D, Innovation and Clusters (University of Sussex)
- Internationalisation (Newcastle University)
- Arts, Culture and Heritage (University of Sheffield)
- Education, Skills and Talents (Work Advance)
This report is written by our consortium partners at Newcastle University:
- Dr Sara Maioli, Reader in Economics, Newcastle University Business School
- Dr Daniel Simandjuntak, Research Associate at Newcastle University and Creative PEC
- Dr Jonathan Jones, Senior Lecturer in Economics at Newcastle Business School
- Professor Giorgio Fazio, Research Director of Creative PEC and Chair of Macroeconomics at Newcastle University Business School.
Thanks to Creative PEC policy, operations and communications teams for editing, proofing and other support.
Citation: If the information in this report is used in any subsequent research and/or publications, please cite as follows: Maioli, S. (2025) Migration in UK Creative Occupations and Industries. Zenodo. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.15475282.
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Credits
Report design by Mike Green/Green Doe Ltd
