Position of Artists in Labour Market Worrisome

The end of January marked the publication of the Cultural Labour Market Study conducted by the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) and the Council for Culture. This report confirms what everybody in the cultural sector had already seen, heard and felt: the labour market for artists has taken a considerable turn for the worse as a result of the economic crisis and the severe cutbacks in the cultural budget that have been made by the government.

As a rule, people who work in the cultural sector have low, irregular incomes; these are under pressure in both the subsidized and unsubsidized parts of the sector. In the 2009–2013 period, the number of freelancers in the cultural sector increased by 20.4%, much more than in the economy as a whole (9.6%). At the same time, work opportunities in the cultural sector decreased by 12.3%, compared with 2.5% in the economy as a whole.

Institutes and organizations indicated that they have been working with freelancers more often because employing people on a permanent basis is no longer financially feasible. Especially in the area of cultural education, the switchover from salaried workers to freelancers has been substantial. Because of heavy competition and low budgets, however, the negotiating position of freelancers is weak, so that earnings are low and people are sometimes even working for no money at all.

The number of volunteers in the cultural sector is also increasing, particularly in museums, libraries and theatres. In 2014, there were more volunteers than paid employees working in theatres and music venues. This partly has to do with the greater availability of volunteers because of more pensioners as well as a growing interest in volunteer work. Yet the increasing numbers of volunteers could also indicate that paid employees are being ousted. Similar signals are being heard about apprenticeships and work placements.

The study was conducted partly at the request of Cultural Minister Bussemaker. During the cultural budget discussions in the autumn of 2015, she made €2 million available for improving the labour market in the cultural sector. From the initial reactions to the report, it is highly doubtful that this will be enough.