About

These Economic Estimates are accredited official statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by GVA (gross value added). This release includes annual estimates for 2010 to 2022, and provisional annual estimates for 2023.

This year, we have seen substantial revisions to GVA estimates for DCMS sectors to previously published data to 2022. This is due to revisions made by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to the underlying data which these estimates are based on. GVA estimates are subject to scheduled revisions as more and higher quality data becomes available, and more information about this is available in the ONS article on https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/articles/gdprevisionsinbluebook2020/2024">GDP revisions in Blue Book: 2024. Further information of the impact of these revisions on DCMS sector GVA is available in the technical report above.

This is the full release and report of our Annual GVA publication, updating the tables-only release published on 19 December 2024 that was brought forward following the impact of scheduled ONS revisions in the National Accounts Blue Book 2024 on GVA estimates for DCMS sectors. This release includes new estimates for tourism and DCMS overall, and a report on the latest estimates.

There are limitations when comparing tourism GVA estimates over time. Although the TSA revisions have improved the comparability of data in some cases, there are still limitations when comparing tourism GVA estimates over time. In particular there is a break in the TSA time series in 2022, meaning that estimates from 2022 onwards are not directly comparable with earlier years. This is due to changes in methodology to VisitEngland’s Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) which is a critical data source for estimating domestic tourism expenditure and, therefore, tourism direct GVA in the ONS TSA, the underlying data source for these estimates. The GBTS survey methodology changed in 2020, however full years of data were not collected in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic, and the TSA for these years uses alternative data sources and new modelling techniques. VisitEngland’s Great Britain Tourism Survey (GBTS) is currently labelled as official statistics in development. Further information is available on https://www.visitbritain.org/research-insights/great-britain-domestic-overnight-trips-archive#gbts-2022-and-2023-archive">VisitBritain’s website. As a result, we advise caution when comparing data for tourism and DCMS sectors overall (including tourism) for 2022 and 2023 with earlier years. It is not possible to separate out the impact of changes in methodology to the underlying VisitEngland data and therefore we do not know how much the trends we are seeing are driven by these methodological changes. Further information is available in the report and in the technical report.

Content

DCMS sectors

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• civil society
• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling
• sport
• tourism

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions and that several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries.

The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector and computer games subsector.

We have separately published ad hoc statistics for the art and antiques market. Annual GVA estimates for the art and antiques market have been published here alongside economic estimates on employment and trade.

Headline findings:

Provisional 2023 estimates show that:

• GVA in DCMS sectors was estimated to be £220.3 billion, contributing 9.3% to UK GVA.
• GVA in the DCMS sectors increased by an estimated 0.1% compared to 2022, while the UK as a whole grew by 0.3%.
• The slight growth in DCMS sector GVA from 2022 to 2023 was driven by the tourism sector (+8.5%); there was also growth from 2022 to 2023 in the sport sector (+2.2%) and in civil society (+2.3%). There was a drop in GVA from 2022 to 2023 in the ot

About

These economic estimates are used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by employment (number of filled jobs). These estimates are calculated based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS).

Notice on Accreditation:

The statistics in this series (including this release) will be classed as official statistics in development until further review. On 4 August 2025, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/ed-humpherson-to-sarah-alloway-lasher-suspension-of-official-statistics-accreditation/">temporarily suspended the accreditation from this employment series, at https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/sarah-alloway-lasher-to-ed-humpherson-suspension-of-official-statistics-accreditation/">our request, following ONS https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/michael-keoghan-to-siobhan-tuohy-smith-request-to-suspend-aps-accreditation/">reporting concerns with the quality of estimates for smaller segments of the APS population, which the DCMS Sector Economic Estimates: Employment series depends on.

Due to ongoing challenges with response rates, response levels and weighting, the accreditation of ONS statistics based on Annual Population Survey (APS) was https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/michael-keoghan-to-siobhan-tuohy-smith-request-to-suspend-aps-accreditation/">temporarily suspended on 9 October 2024. Because of the increased volatility of both Labour Force Survey (LFS) and APS estimates, the ONS advises that estimates produced using these datasets should be treated with additional caution. ONS statistics based on both the APS and LFS will be considered official statistics in development until further review.

Following the ONS reporting concerns regarding the quality of the APS estimates, particularly for smaller segments of the population, we conducted analysis to understand the quality of DCMS employment estimates. Consequently, we have concerns regarding increased volatility due to low APS sample sizes and its impact on the reliability and quality of our estimates. The statistics in this series will be classified as official statistics in development until further review. Previous releases in the series have been classified as accredited official statistics, meaning that they have been independently assessed by the OSR as complying with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Content

DCMS Sectors

These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;

• civil society
• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling
• sport
• tourism

Tourism estimates are available up to 2023 only due to data availability. We have made some revisions to employment estimates for the tourism sector and DCMS sectors overall for the years 2016 to 2019, following revisions made by the ONS to the underlying https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/satelliteaccounts/datasets/uktourismsatelliteaccounttsatables">Tourism Satellite Account data.

The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector, computer games sector and art and antiques market.

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.

Alongside these calendar year employment estimates, we would usually publish APS earnings estimates to provide detailed demographic information about earnings in DCMS sectors. Due to ongoing challenges with the quality of APS data, we have not published these estimates in this release. We will explore producing these estimates in future as the quality of APS data improves.

Headline findings

Estimates of the number of filled jobs in the included DCMS sectors in 2024 show that:

• There were 4.0 million total filled jobs in the included DCMS sectors in 2024, representing 11.7% of UK total filled jobs. Tourism data is available up to 2023 and provisional estimates show that there were 4.9 million filled jobs in DCMS sectors overall (incl tourism) in 2023, 14.4% of UK total filled jobs.
• Employment in the included DCMS sectors (excluding tourism) g

Headline Findings

In 2020, an estimated 9.3% of all 16-64 year-olds had a main job in the DCMS Sectors (excl. Tourism.) This compares to 8.9% in 2019 (the period January to December 2019).

Looking at individual sectors, 5.0% of all 16-64 year-olds had a main job in the Creative Industries. This is followed by the Digital Sector (4.0%), Civil Society (2.1%), Cultural Sector (1.5%), Sport (1.1%), Telecoms (0.4%), Gambling (0.2%).

In 2020, an estimated 10.7% of all men aged 16-64, and 8.0% of all women aged 16-64, had a main job in the DCMS Sectors (excl. Tourism).

In 2020, an estimated 14.9% of all London residents aged 16-64 had a main job in the DCMS Sectors (excl. Tourism). The equivalent figure for the South East was 11.4% of residents, and for the East of England, 9.4%. By contrast, 6.4% of all Northern Ireland residents aged 16-64 had a main job in the DCMS Sectors (excl. Tourism).

About this release

This estimate is an Experimental Official Statistic used to provide an estimate of the employment contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy.

DCMS normally publishes number of jobs as an estimate of employment. However, this has been postponed pending a re-weighting of the underlying datasets. This employment percentage measure - which looks at the percentage of all 16-64 year-olds with a main job in the DCMS Sectors (excl. Tourism) - are less affected by the re-weighting of the datasets and can therefore continue to be published, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/may2021">in line with ONS advice as the dataset owners. Consequently, it has been published as an interim measure to meet user needs for timely employment statistics. The geographic coverage is the whole of the United Kingdom.

It is part of the wider set of Economic Estimates, which together estimate the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy.

Content

The Economic Estimates statistical series covers the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy:

• Civil Society
• Creative Industries
• Cultural Sector
• Digital Sector
• Gambling
• Sport
• Telecoms
• Tourism

A definition for each sector is available in the accompanying technical document along with details of methods and data limitations.

Release

8 July 2021

Feedback and consultation

DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. DCMS welcomes feedback on this release. Feedback should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

The UK Statistics Authority

This release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics (2018) produced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.

Pre-release access

The accompanying pre-release access document lists ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.

Contact

Responsible statistician: Rishi Vaidya

For any queries or feedback, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk.

About

These official statistics in development provide provisional estimates of the productivity of DCMS sectors for 2019 to 2022, and provisionally for 2023, measured by gross value added (GVA) per hour worked.

This is the first time we have published time series data for output per hour, which is the preferred measure of labour productivity and has the advantage of accounting for different working patterns. We have previously published productivity estimates for output per job, however suitable data is not currently available to update this series. We will review this in future, based on both data availability and user needs

These estimates should not be directly compared to the previously published ones, as the methodology has since changed and the data used to produce the older estimates has since been substantially revised.

Content

DCMS sectors

These statistics cover productivity in the following DCMS sectors:

• creative industries
• cultural sector
• gambling
• sport

Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions and that several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries.

A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report above along with details of methods and data limitations.

Estimates exclude tourism, due to a lack of suitable data, and civil society, as our definitions for civil society jobs, hours worked and GVA are incompatible. Work is ongoing to explore the feasibility of developing estimates.

Headline findings:

In 2023:

• Output per hour in included DCMS sectors (creative industries, culture, sport and gambling) was £35, compared to £43 for the UK as a whole. This means that for DCMS sectors compared to the UK average, more hours of work are needed to generate the same amount of GVA.
• Between 2022 and 2023, we provisionally estimate that output per hour in included DCMS sectors fell by around 3% compared to a fall for the overall UK economy of around 0.5%.
• Compared to pre-pandemic (2019), included DCMS sector output per hour in 2023 was estimated to be relatively unchanged, compared to around a 3% increase for the UK as a whole.
• DCMS sector productivity estimates vary by sector and subsector.

The following information is worth noting:

• Estimates for 2023 are provisional and subject to change when the National Accounts are published later in 2025.
• GVA is a standard measure of labour output, and has the advantages of comparability and availability of data, but will produce apparently lower values of productivity for parts of DCMS sectors (e.g. museums, libraries) where goods and services are often provided free at the points of consumption and have wider cultural and societal benefits (which may also include indirect effects on UK GVA).
• These estimates use the ONS dataset https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/productivitymeasures/datasets/outputperhourworkeduk">output per hour worked which is classified as official statistics in development because the estimates are based on the Labour Force Survey which has been impacted by falling sample sizes. The estimates also use ONS Annual Population Survey (APS) estimates of hours worked, which has also been impacted by falling sample sizes. As a result, the accreditation of ONS statistics based on the APS was temporarily suspended on 9 October 2024 and these statistics are considered official statistics in development until further review. This means there is greater uncertainty in DCMS sector estimates.

Released

First published on 20 March 2025.

Official statistics in development: Call for Feedback

These statistics are labelled as https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/policies/official-statistics-policies/official-statistics-in-development/">official statistics in development. Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing development and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/">Code of Practice for Statistics. These productivity estimates are designed to complement our other economic estimates and to give a deeper understanding of the economic performance of DCMS sectors to the UK economy. They are being published as official statistics in development because:

• they include an updated