Eurostat: Cyprus had largest increase of cultural employment in 2022

The number of people employed in the cultural sector in Cyprus increased by 21.5% in 2022 compared to 2021, from about 14.9 thousand to about 18.1 thousand people, also recording the largest increase among EU member states, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union.

In the EU, the cultural sector employed 7.7 million people in 2022. Compared with 2021, it indicated a 4.5% increase from 7.4 million.

The share of people employed in the cultural sector increased in 19 EU member states and fell in the other eight member states.

The most significant increases were recorded in Cyprus (+21.5 %), Luxembourg (+14.5%), Ireland (+14.0%), Sweden (+11.9%) and the Netherlands (+10.5%).

Meanwhile, the most significant decreases were recorded in Bulgaria (-7.7%), Czechia (-7.3%), Croatia (-6.3%), Estonia (-5.3%) and Latvia (-2.5%).

In the timeframe 2019-2022, different patterns for the annual rates of change across years are noted. The most significant increase in annual rates of change for cultural employment was observed in Cyprus, which went from -5.7% in 2019-2020 to +21.5% in 2021-2022.

Luxembourg (-15.1% to +14.5%) and Ireland (-3.0% to +14.0%) followed in annual rates of change.

The most substantial decreases were registered in Czechia, which declined from +5.3% in 2019-2020 to -7.3% in 2021-2022, Croatia (+6.3% to -6.3%) and Bulgaria (+4.1% to -7.7%).

France, Lithuania, and Portugal were the only EU countries with an increase in employment in the cultural sector both between 2019-2020 and 2021-2022. On the other hand, Estonia is the only EU country which experienced a decline during both periods.

Meanwhile, the gender gap in cultural employment reached its lowest level in 2022. Since 2013, the number of women in cultural employment has been increasing across the European Union, except in 2020. In 2022, the cultural sector recorded the smallest ever gender employment gap with a difference of just 1.6 percentage points, corresponding to 3.93 million men and 3.80 million women (50.8% and 49.2%) employed in the sector.

The picture varied somewhat between EU members, with women surpassing the share of men working in the cultural sector in 14 countries. High differences in the shares, in favour of women in cultural employment, were recorded in Latvia (26.3 pp difference between women and men), Lithuania (25.7 pp), Cyprus (17.1 pp), Bulgaria (13.6 pp) and Luxembourg (13.3 pp).

On the other hand, the countries with the highest gender employment gap in the cultural sector were Malta (21.6 pp difference between the share of men and women), Spain (9.5 pp), Ireland and Italy (around 8.5 pp).

(Source: CNA)