Lack of social mobility in creative jobs has remained the same since the 1970s in the UK. This has serious implications for the future of the creative industries

New research challenges the notion that there was once a 'golden age' of social mobility within the creative sector in the UK and reveals deep-rooted class inequalities that have not evolved since the 1970s. New research conducted by experts from the Universities of Manchester, Edinburgh and Sheffield challenges the notion that there was once a 'golden age' of social mobility within the creative sector and reveal deep-rooted class inequalities that have not evolved since the 1970s. In Britain, the popular belief is that the cultural and creative industries are meritocratic; that they are recruited on the basis of talent regardless of social origin. However, a recent analysis on the employment profile of the cultural sector shows that those from more privileged backgrounds have always dominated has shaken this view. Since the 1970s, the proportion of working class people in creative jobs has halved. Data from the Office of National Statistics reveals that 16.4% of creative workers born between 1953 and 1962 had a working-class background, but that had fallen to just 7.9% for those born four decades later. This tendency led prominent upwardly mobile figures in the industry, such as Julie Walters, Christopher Eccleston, Lennie James and Julie Hesmondhalgh to lament the loss of a 'golden age' of opportunities for working class actors and artists that started in the 1960s.