Table Of Content

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