Get the Picture - Employment - Occupations

Occupations: By industry

Numbers employed in selected occupations, audiovisual and other industries, 1996 and 2001

Employment increased between the 1996 and 2001 Census in most of the roles relevant to audiovisual industries. Occupations growing by more than 50 per cent included artistic directors, graphic designers, script editors, actors, program directors (a very large increase, of 289 per cent, possibly due to the introduction of subscription TV), projectionists and cinema managers.

Of the production roles, directors, editors, camera operators and lighting technicians saw increases of more than 30 per cent, make-up artists and production assistants of 12 per cent, directors of photography 5 per cent and sound technicians 2 per cent.

There were overall falls in the number of art directors, TV journalists and TV equipment and transmitter operators, as well as in the number of photographers and illustrators employed in audiovisual industries.

Occupations growing by more than 30 per cent, 1996, 2001

Graph: Employment - Occupations by industry growing by more than 30 per cent, 1996 and 2001. Table following provides the data.

Next update December 2008

	Audiovisual industries¹			All other industries
	1996	2001	Change	1996	2001	Change
Media producers	2,805	3,186	+14%	1,950	3,054	+57%
Artistic directors	18	30	+67%	249	207	-17%
Photographers	60	48	-20%	6,199	6,797	+10%
Photographer's assistants	62	11	-82%	449	527	+17%
Graphic designers	316	505	+60%	12,770	20,639	+62%
Illustrators	362	304	-16%	994	1,196	+20%
Screenwriters/authors	204	270	+32%	2,140	2,931	+37%
Script editors	45	68	+51%	78	53	-32%
Actors	346	534	+54%	1,160	1,472	+27%
Television presenters	258	268	+4%	102	105	+3%
Television journalists	894	876	-2%	99	92	-7%
Directors (film, TV, radio, stage)	967	1,307	+35%	734	857	+17%
Program directors (radio, TV)	45	175	+289%	261	854	+227%
Technical directors	102	110	+8%	86	81	-6%
Stage managers	80	113	+41%	293	482	+65%
Art directors (film, TV, stage)	116	109	-6%	121	109	-10%
Directors of photography	211	222	+5%	69	68	-1%
Other dirs; other prod. dept. heads	562	666	+19%	250	295	+18%
Film/video editors	878	1,212	+38%	144	195	+35%
Sound technicians	577	590	+2%	2,305	3,050	+32%
Camera operators (film, TV, video)	874	1,135	+30%	135	276	+104%
Light technicians	112	152	+36%	516	701	+36%
Makeup artists	119	133	+12%	358	636	+78%
Production assistants	658	736	+12%	279	196	-30%
TV equipment & transmitter operators	550	506	-8%	267	162	-39%
Motion picture projectionists	533	859	+61%	93	53	-43%
Theatre or cinema managers	551	854	+55%	386	353	-9%
Ticket collectors or ushers	1,111	1636	+47%	1,714	1,564	-9%
Total these occupations	13,416	16,387	+22%	34,201	47,005	+37%
% these occupations	44%	44%		0.4%	0.6%
Other occupations²	17,307	21,128	+22%	8,130,136	8,171,680	+0.5%
Total employed	30,723	37,515	+22%	8,164,337	8,201,854	+0.5%

Source: Compiled by the Australian Film Commission from unpublished data from the 1996 and 2001 Census.

Notes:
Cells have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data, so totals in this table may not equal totals in other tables which use Census data.
1. Comprises ‘Film and video production’, ‘Film and video distribution’, ‘Motion picture exhibition’ and ‘TV services’, as well as ‘Motion picture, radio, TV services undefined’, ‘Film & video services undefined’, and ‘Radio & TV services undefined’.
2. Includes ‘Artists and related professionals not further defined’, ‘Performing arts support workers not further defined’, and occupations ‘not stated’, as well as other occupations not listed in the table.