U.S. arts and content creation employment declines sharply

Data analyzed by economist Joseph Politan reveals a significant decline in employment within the United States content creation industry. Despite financial growth in certain sectors like music, the broader industry of film, television, literary editing, broadcasting, and graphic design has seen a loss of over 200,000 jobs in the last four years, with 50,000 lost in the most recent year.

The job losses are heavily concentrated in production. For instance, film and video production employment dropped from 289,100 in October 2022 to 185,200 by February 2026. In contrast, employment in movie theaters remained relatively stable, moving from 117,600 to 116,900 during the same period. Politan described this trend as “one of the worst periods for media employment in modern United States history.”