Creative industries and migration trends analysed

A new report from the Creative PEC (Policy and Evidence Centre) on migration and UK creative occupations and industries has analysed trends and gaps in available data and argues that it is important that the migration system works to meet the needs of the creative industries, which have been named by the government as a priority growth area for the UK economy.

The research states that the creative industries have some distinctive features, in relation to employment, that should be taken into account when designing migration rules.

Compared with the rest of the economy, for example, the UK creative industries have greater reliance on freelance and project-based work. The share of non-UK labour is also higher in the creative industries than in the non-creative industries.

Creative organisations also thrive on diverse and international talent to foster innovation, host a higher share of micro-businesses than other sectors, and experience acute skills shortages given its exposure to technological shocks.

As shown below, the number of UK sponsoring organisations registered to sponsor foreign workers with a Skilled Worker visa grew by around 3.5 times from 2020 Q3 to 2024 Q3. Sponsors registered for Temporary Worker visas flatlined over the entire period from 2014 Q1 to 2024 Q3.

The report says this can be explained by two main factors. First, UK employers who previously employed only EU migrants now need to engage with the work visa system, and a wider range of jobs are now eligible for work visas. Second, this trend could point to an exacerbation in employers’ difficulty in recruiting skilled workers after the pandemic, which would also apply to the the creative industries.

The report says a modern migration system for the sector must be flexible enough to provide for the complementary international skills needed to foster growth and incentivise local employers to upskill domestic workers within the UK creative industries.

The authors offer recommendations such as:

• Targeting hard-to-fill vacancies through balanced migration and domestic skills policy.
• Maintaining the UK’s attractiveness to global talent.
• Ensuring temporary and short-term visa routes remain competitive and accessible for creative occupations.
• Exploring ways to ease the burden of cost on visa applicants.
• Pursuing bilateral agreements that ensure the inclusion of creative workers and their needs.
• Improving data collection and evidence on any barriers that UK creative workers face when working abroad, especially for the EU.

Download the report.

Watch a YouTube presentation.