A State of the Nations Research Report
This new report from Work Advance for Creative PEC builds upon their previous work on skills in the creative industries and is based upon survey data on creative industries employers. The report highlights that, despite interventions and efforts, creative industries employers are less likely to recruit workers over 50 and are less likely to engage with training routes like apprenticeships than UK employers overall. It also highlights a range of barriers holding back creative employer engagement with the skills system, such as time, cost, and the difficulty in customising them for the sector.
With the creative industries experiencing considerable growth over the last decade combined with rapid technological advances and an ageing population, the research points to the need to build a more robust talent pipeline and invest in lifelong learning.
The report is written by Directors of Work Advance, Lesley Giles and Heather Carey as part of a suite of State of the Nations research within the Creative Education, Skills and Talent theme.
Key findings:
- The creative industries recruit young people (under 25) and older people (50+) at a lower rate compared to other sectors. 57% of creative industries employers had recruited young people aged under 25 in the past 2-3 years, compared to 64% across all sectors.
- Older workers aged 50+ are less likely to be recruited, despite 93% of creative employers reporting they were happy with their work readiness when they did draw talent from this group.
- Creative industries employers are more likely to recruit graduates to their first job compared to school or college leavers.
- Just over a fifth (22%) of creative industries employers had recruited HE leavers compared to 14% across all sectors. However, creative industries employers report that 21% of graduates recruited are not adequately prepared for the role, which is significantly higher than 14% of employers across all industries.
- Creative industries employers are more likely to have had someone on a work placement compared to all industries. A total of 37% of creative industries firms had offered any type of work placement, which compares to 30% across the economy.
- Creative industries firms are however less likely to offer employment after a placement compared to all sectors. This varies depending on the level of education leavers: only 6% of school leavers taken on for a placement with a creative firm are then employed (vs 13% across all sectors), rising to 24% of graduates (vs 28%).
- Capacity and firm size are the main reasons for not offering placements. Creative industries employers are more likely to say that capacity (in terms of time and resources) is the main reason for not offering a placement, at 28% vs 19% across all industries. Other barriers included placements not being suitable due to the size of the business (16% vs 10% across all industries)
- Creative industries employers are more familiar with apprenticeships than the wider economy. Despite this, most employers in the sector were unlikely to use apprenticeships in future. 63% said they were unlikely to engage with apprenticeships going forward, compared to 57% across the wider economy.
- Awareness of apprenticeships is nearly universal, but detailed understanding is limited. 99% of creative industries employers had heard of apprenticeships, yet only 46% reported having some knowledge of what they involve.
- Creative industries engagement with apprenticeships remains low and less sustained over time. Only 5% of employers currently have apprentices, with another 3% having offered them in the past. Both these figures are below the national average (11% and 8%, respectively).
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 years 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 Work Advance:
- Lesley Giles, Director of Work Advance
- Heather Carey, Director of Work Advance
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: Giles, L. and Carey, H. (2025) Creative industries employers’ perspectives on skills initiatives: 2025. Creative PEC. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.15730438.
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Credits
Report design by Mike Green/Green Doe Ltd.
