Friday, June 12, 2015

Equity work patterns over time - 2015 update

Every year, staff prepares a report on work weeks from the previous year, and a condensed version appears in the EQ from time to time. There are certainly lots of numbers to sift through, but statistics are nothing without context – a comparison of those numbers over time. Are they climbing, declining, or staying steady?

In an effort to provide some of that context, I started charting the workweek numbers a few years ago, and here is what the picture looks like as of mid 2015:


Work weeks over time
Note: the reporting period changed from calendar to fiscal in 2011, and Jan-Mar 2011 is not reflected in this chart.


Over the past thirteen reporting periods, the typical year has generally hovered around and above 70,000 work weeks for our members - that's the bold red line at the top. Contracts under the CTA and ITA make up about two-thirds of that. 

It's a bit hard to make out at this scale, but the cluster of lines immediately below the 10K mark are opera, dance and guest artist, all roughly at the same 6-7,000 level. Opera and guest artist have stayed pretty steady, but due in large part to the welcoming of the artists at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens into our membership, the dance number has risen over the past two years. 

Below that group, the orange line represents small scale and indie projects of all types, which have also seen a significant increase in the past several years. 

Finally, the line right at the bottom is actually two lines: amateur and other (a grab bag of miscellaneous engagements), both of which only account for a few hundred work weeks annually.

Although this year is down slightly from last year's record high, the trend is still very positive, and it will be interesting to see what next year holds in store.