Czech Republic/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.9 Employment policies for the cultural sector

The Arts and Theatre Institute, in cooperation with EUPC Ltd and ProCultura / Open Society p.b.o., elaborated a study on the "Input Analysis of Contemporary Relations in the Labour Market within the Cultural Sector and the Definition of Default Assumptions for Strategic Planning of Employment in this Sector" on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 2007. The cultural sector areas included in this study are: art, literary culture and libraries, cultural heritage, protection of movable cultural heritage, museums and galleries, media and cinematography, churches and religious organisations, copyright, i.e. the areas covered by the work of the Ministry of Culture (MC). Despite such a narrow definition of the field of culture, the study proves the importance of this sector to the labour market. Culture employs 3.3% of workers in the Czech labour market, i.e. about 85 500 people, and the volume of production of the culture sector represented 1.6% of overall production in the Czech Republic (CR) in 2005, almost 120 billion CZK. The aim of the study was elaboration of sector analysis focused on the labour market to identify the requirements of the work force in the medium-term to 2013. The study will also influence plans for use of the European Social Fund in 2007-2013 in relation to structural requirements and in the context of economics. The volume of production of the cultural sector in 2005 represented 1.6% of the overall production of the CR (199 565 million CZK). Publishing activity (29%) contributed the most to the volume of production in this sector, while activities of social organisations, including churches, was 19.5% and production and broadcasting of television and radio programmes was 16.8%. The volume of gross added value of the cultural sector in 2006 (45 300 million CZK) represented 1.7% of the total volume of gross added value (GAV) of the Czech economy. From the point of view of effectiveness of the sector, the situation is very positive. In 2003-2005, the gross added value of the whole sector increased by a quarter in comparison with the growth of the GAV volume of the Czech economy (+15%); the growth in culture was 9 percentage points faster. The study draws attention to the differences in various cultural fields and it analyses factors that influence its development and effectiveness. Contractual documents and the final report of the project are available at the website of the European Social Fund http://www.esfcr.cz/clanek.php?lg=1&id=5015

The Satellite Account for Culture, which is put together by NIPOS and the CSO, published its first results in 2011 for 2009 and also published data on employment and wages. According to these findings, in 2009 there were 80 000 employees working in the culture sector. On top of this figure there will be an estimated several thousand more who work in the sector on the basis of a contract for services, as a self-employed worker, or voluntarily and with no wage entitlement.

Surprisingly, the level of wages in the culture sector is on the whole the same as in other branches of the economy. While the natural average gross wage in 2009 was 23 488 CZK, in a sample of cultural industries surveyed it was 2.3% higher. The difference, however, is between different areas of culture; there is a clear division between traditional arts and cultural and creative industries. While in the arts and cultural heritage, the average wage was clearly below the national average (in art by 10.2% and in cultural heritage by as much as 18.6%), in the media sphere the average wage was conversely almost 28% higher than the national average. In total, 44% of employees working in the culture sector work in cultural areas with wages below the national average.

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