Employers in the creative industries are less likely to engage with training routes, such as apprenticeships, than those in the wider UK economy, according to a new report from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC).
The Creative Industries Employers’ Perspectives on Skills Initiatives report uses survey data from employers to highlight that few creative firms currently engage with the skills system.
Only 5% of employers in the creative industries currently have apprentices, compared to the UK average of 11%. Additionally, around two-thirds (63%) of creative industries employers said they were unlikely to use apprenticeships going forward, compared to 57% across the wider economy.
The findings come despite creative employers being more familiar with apprenticeships than the average across all sectors.
The report suggests that several barriers, including time, cost and the difficulty of tailoring to their needs, prevent creative employers from fully engaging with the skills system. It adds that these barriers are similar across all industries.
In instances where creative employers have engaged with skills programmes, the report says they have tended to integrate different interventions in broader business practices, resulting in a range of positive benefits, including accessing skilled workers and strengthening talent pipelines.
Lesley Giles, co-director of Work Advance and co-author of the report, commented that “there is room to reinvigorate partnerships with the creative industries and skills providers to better articulate changing skills needs and shape the training response”.
“This is crucial to enhance entry routes and career pathways into the sector and widen work-based learning activities to supply more industry-relevant skills,” Giles added.
Work placements
Creative PEC’s latest report also reveals that employers in the creative industries are more likely to have someone on a work placement than other industries, but are less likely to offer that worker employment afterwards.
More than a third (37%) of firms in the creative industries have offered a work placement compared to the UK average of 30%, the report says.
However, it notes that only 6% of school leavers who receive a work placement are subsequently employed by the creative company, compared to a UK average of 13% across all sectors.
This figure rises to 24% when accounting for graduates on a work placement, but remains down on the UK average of 28% for this level of education.
Creative businesses are most likely to cite time and resource capacity as the main reason for not offering employment after a work placement. Other barriers include the opportunity not being suitable due to the size of the business.
‘Constraining entry points’
The creative industries are also less likely to recruit both people under 25 and over 50 than the UK average.
According to the report, 57% of creative employers had recruited people under 25 in the past two to three years, compared to an average 64% across all sectors.
Older workers are less likely to be recruited, hired by 24% of creative businesses compared to 33% across all industries.
This is despite 93% of creative employers reporting they were happy with the work readiness of over-50s when they did draw talent from this age group.
In the report, Creative PEC says these hiring practices are “constraining entry points into the sector for different age groups”, before adding that the “breadth, depth and sustainability of work experience and work-based learning opportunities in the creative industries remains limited”.
In contrast, the creative industries employ higher education leavers at a greater rate than the UK average, with 22% employing graduates compared to 14% across all sectors.
However, employers reported that 21% of graduates are not adequately prepared for the role, higher than the average of 14% across the wider economy.
Bernard Hay, Creative PEC’s head of policy, said that “given the challenges identified in the report around broadening entry into the sector, continued focus should be given to how effective local skills partnerships and delivery can be developed, supported and scaled”.
“[This] can ensure new initiatives meaningfully involve local firms and training providers and are responsive to local needs”, Hay added.
Creative PEC’s newest report is the latest in its State of the Nations research series, following on from a publication covering migration in the creative industries.
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