About the data

The Australian Bureau of Statistics offers three main sources of information about employment in Australia’s audiovisual industries: Census data, industry surveys conducted every three years, and surveys of ‘work in selected culture/leisure activities’ conducted every four years. Each has a slightly different focus and methodology.

Census data is based on individuals answering questions about their main job in the week preceding Census night, with a person allocated to a particular industry based on the industry classification of the employer.

The Service Industries Survey (SIS) data is based on asking a sample of companies involved in the various industries about the number of people they employed as of June of the survey year. While the Census allocates people to a particular industry on the basis of their main job, the SIS also picks up those for whom working in the industry is a second job (for example, part-time cinema ushers). The other main difference from the Census is that the SIS would tend not to include freelancers (only employees for whom PAYE tax is deducted are included); the Census data, on the other hand, would include freelancers (as long as they were employed in the previous week).

The ‘work in culture/leisure’ survey asks a sample of Australians about their ‘work involvements’ in culture or leisure activities in the 12 months preceding the survey. It tracks paid and unpaid work as well as those working part-time and freelance and is thus much broader in scope than the SIS and Census. It also defines involvements based on ‘areas of activity’ rather than using the standard (ANZSIC) industry classifications as the Census and SIS do.

A summary of the latest data from all three sources is provided in this section, followed by some detailed analysis of Census data.

The Digital Content Industry Action Agenda (DCIAA) had its origins in 2001, with the recognition by the Australian Government that digital content and applications would become increasingly important, both in economic terms and as a means of expressing our unique cultural identity.

Between 2001 and 2004, the Government carried out the Creative Industries Cluster Study, which consulted more than 150 key organisations and industry leaders. This study provided company, sector and industry-wide research on the scope, scale and dynamics of the digital content industry in Australia. In 2004, the Government committed to the development of a comprehensive Digital Content Strategy, which would be informed by the strategic directions identified through an Action Agenda.

In 2005, and later revised in 2006, the DCIAA report was finalised and released by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA). Titled Unlocking the Potential, the report identifies strategies for industry development in the areas of investment, exports, skills and training, and research and development.

In addition to the cluster study, further research carried out in conjunction with the DCIAA was the Australian Digital Content Futures Report (2005), Australian Interactive Media Industry Association Roadmapping Study (2005) and Analysis of Skills and Training Issues Affecting the Digital Content Industry (2005).