DCMS Economic Estimates: Earnings 2025
Official Statistics used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by employee earnings.
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About
These Economic Estimates are used to provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by employee median earnings. These estimates are calculated based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). Since ASHE is a survey of employee jobs, it does not cover the self-employed or employees not paid during the reference period.
These estimates include revisions to previously published data for 2023 and 2024 due to revisions made by the ONS to the underlying data. Data for 2025 is provisional and may be subject to revisions in future publications.
Content
DCMS Sectors
These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;
- civil society
- creative industries
- cultural sector
- gambling
- sport
- tourism
Tourism estimates are available up to 2024 only due to data availability.
Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries. These overlaps are accounted for when calculating DCMS sector totals and therefore the sum of businesses in individual sectors will be greater than the overall DCMS sector total.
The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector, computer games sector and the arts and antiques market. The audio visual sector and the arts and antiques market do not form part of the DCMS total.
A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.
Headline findings
Provisional estimates for April 2025 show that:
- Median annual earnings for employees in the included DCMS sectors were £33,090, 0.6% greater than the UK overall (£32,890).
- Median annual earnings for the included DCMS sectors have grown at a slightly slower rate than the UK economy overall compared to the previous year, increasing by 3.6% and 4.1% respectively (not adjusted for inflation).
- Employees in the creative industries (£45,822) and overlapping cultural sector (£35,031) had higher median annual earnings than the UK economy overall but employees in the civil society (£30,080), gambling (£25,593), and sport sectors (£22,072) had lower median annual earnings.
- As of April 2025, for every £1.00 earned by a man employed in the included DCMS sectors, a woman earns £0.80. This means that there is a gender pay gap of 19.5%, larger than the UK overall (12.8%). This has risen by 1.4 percentage points from last year (18.1%), and has narrowed by 3.4 percentage points from 2019 (22.9%).
Released
First published on 23rd April 2026.
Feedback and consultation
DCMS aims to continuously improve the quality of estimates and better meet user needs. Feedback and responses should be sent to DCMS via email at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.
Pre-release access
A document is provided that contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
Office for Statistics Regulation
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Contact
The responsible analyst for this release is Nicholas Hamilton Wu.
For further details about the estimates, or to be added to a distribution list for future updates, please email us at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.