US Media and Arts Sectors Shed 200,000 Jobs in Four Years

The US media, film, and arts industries have lost more than 200,000 jobs over the last four years. Approximately 50,000 of these positions were eliminated within the last year alone. The current intensity and duration of job loss in media employment are comparable only to the recessions of 2001 and 2008. These losses have not been contained to any particular part of the industry.

The movie and sound recording sector has lost more than 100,000 jobs in the last four years, representing nearly one-third of that sector's total employment. Total employment in the movie and TV industry reached a low point this summer that was lower than any time since the 2008 recession. Movie ticket sales ended last year down 25% from their 2019 peak, while cable revenue is down 18% from its peak. Written publishing employment has decreased by more than 70,000 over the last four years. Newspaper payrolls in the US are down nearly 85% from their peak, and book publishers have lost 40% of their jobs.

Roughly 32% of workers in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector use Generative AI to some extent, compared to an average of 62% across all industries. The rise of AI systems coincides with the current period of job loss in creative industries. Media firms are coy about their AI use to protect against public backlash and preserve the legal basis for copyrights. Job losses in media are consistently hovering at around 50,000 per year and have been accelerating in recent months.