Workers pay the price of austerity

Low paid and unpaid workers are increasingly replacing permanent paid positions in arts organisations, according to a new AP survey examining patterns of employment in the arts sector. Almost half (48%) of respondents to AP’s survey of more than 500 arts professionals noted that interns or apprentices were probably or definitely doing work that previously would have been done by permanent staff in their organisations, while only a quarter (26%) said this was probably or definitely not the case. The picture is very similar for volunteering: 46% of organisations say are they are probably or definitely using unpaid workers to do work that would have previously been done by paid staff, while only 27% say that is probably or definitely not the case. These figures reflect those reported last month by the Arts Council of Wales, which revealed that nearly a quarter of the workforce (22%) at Revenue Funded Organisations was made up of volunteers in 2013/14, while the number of paid employees fell by 3%.

The survey has also revealed a widely held view that paying at least a minimum wage to interns and apprentices should be made a condition of arts council funding. 86% of respondents were in favour of such a move, and only 7% against, even though imposing such a requirement would create significant financial challenges for some. Arguments for and against paid internships reflected a conflict between ethical and practical considerations: a recognition that payment creates equal opportunity for interns but at the same time uses very limited financial resources that could be needed elsewhere. Views on payment for volunteers were more diverse. The majority of respondents (64%) said that organisations should pay volunteers if they use them to deliver essential services, but a significant minority (20%) disagreed. While one said: “Let’s get rid of this romantic notion that… working in the arts is not work”, others felt that the value of the experience to a volunteer would be lessened if their work wasn’t essential to the organisation, and that people should be given the opportunity to donate time rather than money.

As well as reducing the number of paid staff in favour of unpaid or low-paid workers, the sector is relying more heavily on freelance workers. Almost half of respondents (48%) reported that freelances were now doing work that would have previously been done by employees in their organisations, whereas less than a quarter (23%) thought this wasn’t the case. Whilst some disadvantages were noted, both organisations and freelances reported significant benefits from freelance working, which one described as having become “an established part of the arts scene”.

The report concludes that the willingness of many highly skilled and qualified people to work for nothing or next-to-nothing in the absence of paid work opportunities is a phenomenon that distinguishes the arts from many other sectors, and permits the sector to create low-pay and no-pay roles. “The world has changed”, it concludes, “and it would need a combination of more money and a labour shortage in the sector – hardly a prospect, even on a distant horizon – to reverse the trend.”

Read the full report, including comments from over 500 respondents related to the changing patterns of employment in the arts sector, here.