Artists in the work force : employment and earnings, 1970 to 1990

156 Pages·1996·11 MB·English

by  Alper, Neil, 1949-

T T
R
S S
I
Work
Force:
the
in
Employment and
Earnings,
1970-1990
Research Report #37
*»
Neil O. Alper and Gregory H. Wassail
Joan Jeffri and Robert Greenblatt
Ann O. Kay and Stephyn G. W. Butcher NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT
Harry Hillman Chartrand
FOR THE ARTS
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries
http://archive.org/details/artistsinworkforOOalpe
Work
Artists in the Force:
Employment and
Earnings,
1970 1990
to

Work
Artists in the Force:
Employment and
Earnings,
1970 1990
to
Neil O. Alper and Gregory H. Wassail
Joan Jeffri and Robert Greenblatt
Ann O. Kay and Stephyn G. W. Butcher
Harry Hillman Chartrand
Research Division Report #37
National Endowment for the Arts
Seven Locks Press
Santa Ana, California
Artists in the Work Force: Employment andEarnings, 1970 to 1990 is Report #37 in
a series on matters of interest to the arts community commissioned by the Research
Division of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cover photos: (L to R) Novelist Alice Walker (photo byJean Weisinger); participants
in the Mayors' Institute on City Design; Victoria Finlayson and Alan Good of the
Merce Cunningham Dance Company (photo by Michael O'Neill); Glassblowing at
the Rhode Island School of Design (photo by David O'Connor).
First Printed 1996
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Artists in the work force: employment and earnings, 1970 to 1990/
Neil O. Alper...[et al.].
—
p. cm. (Research Division report: #37)
ISBN 0-929766-48-6
— — — —
1. Artists Employment United States. 2. Artists Salaries, etc., United
States. I. Alper, Neil, 1949- . II. Series: Research Division report (National
Endowment for the Arts. Research Division); 37.
NX504.A855. 1996
331.12'517'00973—dc20
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
Seven Locks Press
Santa Ana, California
1-800-354-5348
6
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Authors
1
Artists Who Work with Their Hands 3
Performing Artists 4
Architecture and Design Arts Occupations 6
Introduction 8
I. The Write Stuff: Employment and
Earnings of Authors, 1 970-1 990 13
Overview 13
Profile ofAmerican Authors 14
Evidence on Author's Multiple Job Holding 1
Evidence on Authors from Non-Census Sources 17
Authors in the U.S. Census 18
Census Data Used to Analyze Authors'
Work Experiences 19
Issues in Using Census Data to Analyze
Authors' Labor Force 19
Whom
Does the Census Define as an Author? 20
Growth in the Author Profession and
Where Writers Work 22
Whom
For Authors Work: Distribution by Industry 24
Demographic Characteristics ofAuthors 25
Authors in the Labor Market 28
Earnings ofAuthors 32
Authors in the U.S. and Elsewhere 40
Current Population Survey 41
Non-Census Surveys 43
Alper-Wassail Survey 44
Columbia University's RCAC Survey 48
Special Artist Surveys 49
Administrative Records 52
Writers in Other Countries 55
Conclusion 56
About the Authors 58
vi Artists in the Workforce
I
II. Artists Who Work with Their Hands
A Trend Report, 1 970 to 1 990 59
Overview
59
Data from the United States Census 60
Discrete Surveys 61
Challenges 63
Other United States Data 65
United States Census Data, 1970-1990 65
Geographic Trends 66
Age 68
Education 68
Employment and Earnings 69
Discrete Surveys 72
The Artist's Work-Related, Human and Social Services 72
Questionnaire (1986)
Information on Artists Survey (1988) 73
Information on Artists: Boston and New York 78
Artists Training and Career Project (ATC) 1990-91 79
Artists and Jobs Questionnaire 1980 81
Discrepancies 82
Conclusion 83
About the Authors 84
III. Employment and Earnings of Performing
Artists, 1970 to 1990 85
Overview 85
Data Sources and Conceptual Issues 86
Performing Artist Surveys 87
Union Pension Records 87
Employment and Earnings Analysis 88
Labor Force Status 88
Class ofWorker 92
Industry of Employment 93
Weeks ofWork and Usual Weekly Hours 94
Earnings 96
Geographic Distribution 106
Conclusion 110
About the Authors 111
11
Table of Contents vii
I
IV. Architecture and Design Arts Occupations,
1970 to 1990 112
Overview 112
Evidence 112
Difficulties 113
Trends 113
Comparative Occupational Groups 114
Architects 114
Definitions 114
Landscape Architects 115
Membership 116
Age 116
Ethnicity and Race 117
Residence 119
Gender 120
Attainment 121
Employment 23
1
Income 125
Designers 127
Membership 128
Age 129
Ethnicity and Race 130
Residence 130
Gender 132
Education 132
Employment 135
Income 138
Conclusion 138
Professionalization and Competition 139
Design Deficit 140
Design Rights 140
Aesthetic Utopians 14
Forecasts 14
About the Author 142
References 142