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Record high for UK's creative industries

New figures published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) show an increase of 9.9% on the 2012 figure of £70bn.

According to the DCMS, the industry's growth was three times greater than the wider UK economy.

The creative industries also accounted for 5.6% of UK jobs in 2013, it said.

It was the first time since DCMS records began in 1997 that the figure had topped 5%, accounting for 1.71 million jobs.

But while industries like IT, design, architecture saw an increase in employment, jobs in areas like publishing, libraries, galleries and museums fell.

The IT, software and computer services group was worth £35.1bn in 2013, accounting for almost half of the economic benefit created by the creative industries as a whole.

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said: "The UK's creative industries are recognised as world leaders around the globe and today's figures show that they continue to grow from strength to strength."

Caroline Norbury, chief executive of Creative England, a not-for-profit organisation that supports the creative industries, said: "These figures show unequivocally that the UK's creative industries are growing faster than any other major industrial sector."

'Formidable presence'

This is expected to be another buoyant year for the UK's creative talent, with new releases including James Bond and Star Wars films, new albums from Coldplay, Mark Ronson and Emile Sande, and the publication of the first illustrated editions of JK Rowling's Harry Potter novels.

The creative industry groups included in the figures by the DCMS are: Advertising and marketing; architecture; crafts; design; film, TV, video, radio and photography; IT, software and computer services; publishing; museums, galleries and libraries; and music, performing and visual arts.

The report was published a day after the National Endowment for the Arts and US Bureau of Economic Analysis released figures to show the creative industries contributed more than $698bn (£460.4bn) to the US economy in 2012 - about 4.3% of US goods and services.

"It's a formidable presence from the economic point of view,'' said Jane Chu, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.

JOBS IN THE UK CREATIVE ECONOMY

SOURCE: DCMS

Sector

2011

2013

Change

Advertising and marketing

468,000

482,000

3.2%

Architecture

121,000

136,000

12.3%

Crafts

104,000

96,000

-8.5%

Design (product, graphic and fashion design)

151,000

177,000

17.7%

Film, TV, video, radio and photography

232,000

259,000

11.8%

IT, software and computer services

709,000

825,000

16.4%

Publishing

236,000

231,000

-2.1%

Museums, galleries and libraries

113,000

110,000

2.5%

Music, performing and visual arts

274,000

300,000

9.2%

Total

2,407,000

2,616,000

8.7%

Source: BBC News

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