Screen industry creating more than 23,000 jobs a year
Media
Release
Tuesday 4/12/12
Screen industry creating more than 23,000 jobs a year
Film New Zealand says Statistics New Zealand figures revealing that the NZ screen industry is paying $780 million in wages and salaries shows just how lucrative the industry is to the domestic economy.
Statistics New Zealand figures just released show the screen industry in New Zealand directly employed over 15,500 people in more than 23,000 jobs in the year ending March 2011. Production and post-production paid out more than $515 million in wages and salaries and employed 8,500 people.
Gisella Carr, CEO of screen industry body Film New Zealand says the new data reinforces how the industry is growing, and where that growth lies. She said it has been very difficult up to now to get any accurate understanding of screen industry employment because of the project-based nature of the industry and the number of contractors employed. Contracting is a key form of employment in much of the industry.
“These are
substantial annual figures in their own right, but even more
important is the growth in total revenue of 13 percent
between 2005 and 2011. Furthermore the growth is
nationwide.”
She says most excitingly, production and
post-production, the areas of the screen sector responsible
for the creation of content, represent the lion’s share of
$515 million of the total wages and salaries paid
out.
“These figures deal only with direct employment in
the screen industry.
“Equally important but less
visible, is the employment of New Zealanders in other
industries who benefit from screen sector activity.”
She cites a Film New Zealand ad campaign last week
highlighting the contribution of sixteen communities and
businesses to The Hobbit Trilogy.
“This showed
for instance, that film work now makes up about 25% of the
workload of North Harbour Rentals, an Auckland truck rental
company employing nine staff, and has enabled the company to
invest in new vehicles and increase the size and quality of
their fleet to 15 makeup and nine wardrobe trucks.
“
Statistics New Zealand has combined Screen Industry
Survey data with LEED (Linked Employer-Employee Data) to
develop the figures.
“We appreciate the work Statistics New Zealand has been doing in this new experimental data series, which has improved measures for our industry.”
Statistics New Zealand has been careful to point out the numbers do not tell us whether jobs are full or part time, or duration, but what they do give us is a much clearer picture of the value of these jobs and numbers of people working in the industry,” Ms Carr says.
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