by Dejen Tesfagiorgis
I was browsing the National Endowment for the Arts News Archives, and I happened to find an interesting article about their 
Artists in the Workforce Survey. People considering (or already in) a career in the Arts Click Here to go to the article.
From the report:
The Artist’s in the Workforce Study uses United States census occupation data to analyze artists’ demographic and employment patterns. It represents the first comprehensive look at the nation’s working artists in the new century.
If you look on the right hand side of the article you’ll see links to download the 8 page summary, or the 151 page full report. Here are some sweet nothing facts as of the research release date (June 22, 2008):
- 1.4% of the US Labor Force, ~2M American workers, describe an artist occupation as their primary job
- An additional 300,000 Americans have secondary artist employment
- More than 20% of American artists live in LA, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., or Boston
- Artists are 3.5 times more likely than other workers to be self-employed.
Read and enjoy!
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