Poor working conditions and utopianisation of work – research from FBM BUT shows the limits of creative indtustries

Low-paying entry-level positions, irregular income and uncertain workload. In addition, there are high demands on employee mobility and the absence of employment benefits. Working in the creative industries is not easy, even though this sector of the economy is growing rapidly. Peter Mičák from FBM BUT is now examining the situation of employees in the Czech Republic.

"Foreign researchers have been pointing out the poor working conditions and excessive utopianisation of work in the creative industries for years, especially in comparison to more traditional sectors of the economy. However, no similar research has yet been conducted in the Czech Republic. Therefore, I decided to examine whether these findings are also valid in this country," explains Peter Mičák from FBM BUT, who also addressed the topic in his dissertation.

The concept of creative industries originated in the 1990s in the UK. It referred to an industry that drew and created wealth from the creativity of individuals – their experience and talent. "Political parties at the time wanted to appeal to companies not to be afraid to invest capital in this sector. The newly coined term ‘creative industries’ worked much better than the original term ‘cultural industries’," he adds. It encompassed a wide range of industries – from architecture to fine arts, crafts, music, film and television production, publishing, design and advertising.

"The European economy was undergoing deindustrialisation. Manufacturing was moving to Asian countries and countries were trying to reorient themselves towards a knowledge-based economy. Creative industries were growing more dynamically than others and were seen as the future of sustainable economic development. There was no need for raw material inputs, only individual creativity, which is distributed similarly in all countries," Mičák says.

However, the working conditions of people employed or doing business in the creative industries are not easy: "Approximately 80% of the entities are freelancers who offer their products and services and usually carry out several different activities to secure their income. There is a great deal of insecurity of earnings and periods of scarcity of work alternate with periods of high work pressure," the PhD student adds.

Academics in the 1990s first assumed that talent would be the only input variable to ensure earnings. "However, it is a non-inclusive environment where networking plays a key role in success alongside talent. It also turns out that it is quite common in the creative industries to work for several years on unpaid internships to get references. And based such references one builds their reputation and also has to pay attention to personal branding and marketing," Mičák comments.

The findings of foreign experts are confirmed by the data of the ongoing research, which concerns one of the sub-sectors – the publishing industry in the Czech Republic. Mičák focused on private companies publishing books, magazines, recorded music and video games. "It turns out that almost a third of companies employ temporary workers, a form of low-paid work. And more than a quarter use volunteers or interns working for free. What was striking, however, was that 72% were university-educated people," Mičák adds. “Unpaid internships are common even in large IT companies. However, unlike in the creative industry, they are much shorter and are usually followed by an offer of a well-paid position.”

The creative industries are developing much faster than traditional sectors of the economy such as manufacturing. However, data from researchers at the FBM BUT show that the same rate does not reflect wage developments. "From 2011 to 2020, we compared the share of creative and manufacturing industries in the total Czech GDP and the development of average wages. The share of creative industries in the Czech economy increased by 87% over the time period, while the manufacturing industry grew by only 45%," Mičák points out. However, the development of average wages did not reflect this trend – in manufacturing, wages rose by 43%, but in the creative industries, where the proportion of university-educated people is much higher, it was only 32%. Wages are thus lower in the creative industries despite the higher proportion of people with a university education.

"We still encounter a utopianisation where employees in the creative industries are seen as people for whom work provides intrinsic rewards and so are willing to accept worse working conditions. They enjoy their work and are therefore able to adapt to poor working conditions – higher mobility requirements, poor benefits or lower wages," Mičák says, adding that the working conditions of employees in the creative industries would benefit from further research.

(mar)

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