Sizing a hidden sector: a creative industries profile for a growth-corridor council

Creative work is often invisible in standard economic data because it spreads across many industries. Counting only creative industries misses most of the people doing creative work. For a council weighing support for creative activity, the useful question isn't just 'how big is the sector?' but 'where does creative skill actually sit in our economy?'

Creative and cultural activity is widely valued, but it doesn't have its own industry code. The council wanted a defensible picture of its local creative economy that could stand alongside the rest of its economic evidence.

They wanted to understand:

• How large is the creative sector locally, in jobs, value added and businesses?
• Where does the local sector specialise compared with Greater Melbourne?
• Who works in it, what skills do they have and where do they work?

We defined the sector using the Australian Government's national creative and cultural workforce framework. That combined 35 or so creative industries, from printing support and publishing to architecture, design, advertising, performing arts and museums, with creative occupations.

We then drew on modelled economic data from NIEIR (2026), the ABS Census of Population and Housing (2021) and the Australian Business Register. We benchmarked the results against Greater Melbourne.

This enabled assessment of:

• the sector's size in workers, value added, employed residents and registered businesses
• industry and occupation specialisation, using location quotients
• workforce profile, qualifications and skills
• spatial concentration and 'embedded creatives' working in other industries

• The sector is small but growing quickly: In 2024/25 the creative sector supported 1,176 local workers (0.8 per cent of local jobs) and generated $125 million in value added (0.6 per cent of total). Over five years it averaged 5.9 per cent a year growth in workers and 9.9 per cent in value added, faster than Greater Melbourne. Its small base means growth is worth tracking, not assuming.
• Local strength is in print and design, not the arts: Printing support services employ 2.8 times the Greater Melbourne share, and signwriters 10.2 times. Other specialised design services and professional photography also over-index. This suggests support aimed at the creative sector should be tailored to a trades and manufacturing-linked base, rather than assuming a typical arts profile.
• Most creatives work outside the creative sector: About 1,598 people reported working in creative occupations in 2021, but 1,159 of them (around 73 per cent) worked in other industries, such as printing, local government and manufacturing. A sector-only view misses most of the creative workforce, which changes who a council needs to engage and how it counts its creative economy.
• Creative workers are less likely to be professionals or degree-qualified than the metro benchmark: 46 per cent of local creative workers were professionals, compared with 61 per cent in Greater Melbourne, and 28 per cent held a bachelor degree, against 43 per cent. Local creative employment is therefore skewed to trades and applied roles, which has implications for skills pathways and for the kinds of workspaces and training that would help.

The profile gives the council a baseline to track the creative sector over time as 2026 modelled data and the next Census become available. It also gives council an evidence base which they can use to support planning and advocacy in the sector.

If your council wants to understand a sector that doesn't show up neatly in standard data, we'd be happy to talk about how we define and size it. We can help you see where the activity really sits.

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