Report #12 

National Endowment Artists Compared by Age, Sex,
 for the Arts

and Earnings in 1970 and 1976
 Research Division 

January 1980 
Artists Compared by Age, Sex,
 

and Earnings in 1970 and 1976
 

National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C. 
 

This report is produced by the Publishing
 

Center for Cultural Resources as part of
 

a pilot project supported by the National
 

Endowment for the Arts demonstrating economy and efficiency in nonprofit publishing.
 

The Publishing Center’s planning, production, and distribution services are available to all nonprofit cultural and educational groups and organizations. For
 

further information, write Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 625 Broadway,
 

New York City 10012 or telephone
 

212/260-2010.
 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 

National Endowment for the Arts. Research
 

Division.
 

Artists compared by age, sex, and earnings in
 

1970 and 1976.
 

(National Endowment for the Arts Research
 

Division report ; 12)
 

i. Artists--United States--Socio-economic
 

status. 2. Arts, Modern-’-20th century-­

United States. I. Title. II. Series: National
 

Endowment for the Arts. Research Division.
 

Research Division report ; 12.
 

NX504.N33 1980 331.7’617’00973 80-12197
 

ISBN 0-89062-077-6
 

Printed in the United States of America
 
CONTENTS
 

PREFACE /page 2
 

LIST OF TABLES /page 3
 

LIST OF FIGURES /page 4
 

INTRODUCTION /page 5
 

CHAPTER I
 

AGE COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS 1970 AND 1976
 

Composition /page 7
 

Earnings /page 9
 

Employment /page ii
 

Weeks worked /page ii
 

Length of time in occupation /page 12
 

Education /page 13
 

Residence /page 14
 

CHAPTER II
 

SEX COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS 1970 ~ND 1976
 

Composition /page 15
 

Earnings /page 17
 

Employment /page 19
 

Weeks worked /page 19
 

Length of time in occupation /page 20
 

Education /page 21
 

Residence /page 21
 

CHAPTER II
 

EARNINGS 1970 AND 1976
 

Personal earnings /page 22
 

Income variations /page 24
 

Household earnings /page 40
 

Role of the artist as a household provider /page 43
 

REPORTS-IN THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS RESEARCH DIVISION SERIES /page 54
 
PREFACE
 

This study is the first in the Arts Endowment’s research report series that makes
 

comparisons between two periods, 1970 and
 

1976, and illustrates the kind of trend
 

data that will be developed when the 1980
 

Census data become available for analysis.
 

The data from the 1970 Census remains useful as a baseline for comparison, and no
 

comparably detailed comparative analysis
 

of the several artist occupations covering
 

the important subjects of age, sex, and
 

earnings is available.
 

Data gathered by the Bureau of the Census
 

from two sources and then processed by a
 

research contractor for the National Endowment for the Arts is the basis of this
 

report: information from the 1970 Census
 

Public Use Sample and the 1976 Survey of
 

Income and Education (SIE) was condensed
 

by Data Use and Access Laboratories
 

(DUALabs) into two Artist Extract Files.
 

These files contain comparative data on
 

all professional, technical, and kindred
 

workers (grouped in tabular material as
 

all professional workers) as well as data
 

on people in the artist occupations. As
 

with all sample surveys, the Artist Extract
 

Files are estimates subject to sampling
 

variability. The analysis contained in
 

this report is by Diane Ellis under the
 

general direction of Jack Beresford, president of DUALabs, a nonprofit research
 

organization specializing in the analysis
 

of census data. Unless noted otherwise,
 

this report is based on DUALabs’ work.
 

The 1970 Census provided reliable statistics for individual artist occupations.
 

Because of the smaller sample size of the
 

1976 group, however, accurate information
 

was not available to the same degree of
 

detail. Material on earnings and number
 

of weeks worked was collected in 1970 and
 

1976 but is actually based on the years
 

1969 and 1975 respectively. An important
 

note for interpreting income data is that
 

differences exist in various conceptual,
 

collection, and processing procedures
 

used by the Bureau of the Census for the
 

1976 SIE and the 1970 Census. The 1976
 

SIE had a more extensive battery of income questions, better trained interviewers, data frequently collected by personal
 

interviews, and new processing procedures
 

to impute missing or incomplete income
 

responses. For information more extensive
 

than the summaries provided here, consult
 

the following primary sources of tables,
 

figures, and text:
 

United States Bureau of the Census, Public Use Samples of Basic Records from the
 

1970 Census: Description and Technical


Documentation, Washington, D.C.: 1972
 

and United States Bureau of the Census,
 

Technical Documentation: 1976 Survey of
 

Income and Education, Washington, D.C.:
 

1977; United States Bureau of the Census,
 

Census of the Population: 1970, Final
 

Report PC (2)-8B; Occupational Characteristics, Final Report PC (2)-7A; Subject
 

Report PC (2)-8A, Sources and Structure
 

of Family Income, and Subject Report PC
 

(2)-8B Earnings by Occupation and Education.
 

Also used were less traditional and
 

accessible source materials such as the
 

complete set of 1970 Census computer tapes.
 

It is intended that a similar set of information on artists will be made from the
 

1980 Census Public Use Sample. All this
 

material is available for replication or
 

study. Further information can be obtained from Thomas F. Bradshaw, National
 

Endowment for the Arts, Research Division,
 

2401 E Street, Washington, DC 20506,
 

(202) 634-7103.
 

Research Division
 

National Endowment for the Arts
 

January 1980
 
LIST OF TABLES
 

1 Median age of performing artists and all artists 1970 and 1976 /page
 

2 Artists’ occupations by age 1970 /page 7
 

3 Male, female, and all artists by age and sex 1970 and 1976 /page 9
 

4 Unemployment rates in artists’ occupations by age 1970 /page i0
 

5 ~edian earnings in artists’ occupations by age 1970 /page i0
 

6 Weeks worked by artists in 1969 by age /page ii
 

7 Percent of artists working forty or more weeks by occupation
 

and age 1970 /page 12
 

8 Proportion of artists with same occupation in 1965 and 1970 /page 12
 

9 Median school years completed in artists’ occupations by age 1970 /page 13
 

i0 National distribution of artists by age 1970 /page 13
 

ii Regional artist population by age 1970 /page 13
 

12 Artists’ occupations by sex 1970 /page 17
 

13 Sex of artists and professional workers 1970 and 1976 /page 17
 

14 Performing artists and all artists by sex 1970 and 1976 /page 18
 

15 Median earnings of artists and all professional workers by sex
 

1970 and 1976 /page 18
 

16 Unemployment rates in artists’ occupations by sex 1970 /page 19
 

17 Distribution of weeks worked by sex 1969 /page 19
 

18 Proportion of artists working forty or more weeks by sex 1970 /page 19
 

19 Proportion of artists with same occupation in 1965 and 1970 by sex /page 20
 

20 Median school years completed in artists’ occupations by sex 1970 /page 20
 

21 Median earnings of performing artists and all artists 1970 and 1976 /page 23
 

22 Median earnings in artists’ occupations 1970 /page 23
 

23 Earnings in artists’ occupations 1970 /page 24
 

24 Earnings of performing artists and all artists 1976 /page 26
 

25 Proportion of performing artists, all artists, and all professionals who
 

worked forty or more weeks 1970 and 1976 /page 28
 

26 Median earnings of artists by weeks worked 1970 and 1976 /page 28
 

27 Percentage increase of those who worked forty or more weeks in artists’
 

occupations 1970 /page 29
 

28 Artists’ earnings by sex 1970 and 1976 /page 30
 

29 Median earnings in artists’ occupations by age and sex 1970 /page 32
 

30 Median earnings in artists’ occupations by education and sex 1970 /page 34
 
31 Proportion of artists age 25-64 with some college education by 

occupation 1970 /page 36 

32 Artists’ earnings by race 1970 and 1976 /page 37 

33 Median earnings in artists’ occupations by region 1970 /page 38 

34 Median earnings in artists’ occupations in three largest Standard 

Metropolitan Statistical Areas 1970 /page 39 

35 Median household earnings of artists by sex and weeks worked 

1970 and 1976 /page 40 

36 Artists’ heads of household earnings by sex 1970 /page 41 

37 Artists’ heads of household earnings by sex 1976 /page 42 

38 Median household earnings in artists’ occupations 1970 /page 43 

39 Artists’ personal earnings as a proportion of median household earnings 

by sex and weeks worked 1970 and 1976 /page 44 

40 Chief household income recipients in artists’ occupations by weeks 

worked 1969 /page 46 

41 Chief family income recipients in artists’ occupations by weeks 

worked 1969 /page 48 

42 Median earnings in artists’ occupations of husband-wife families with 

artist as head by size of family and number of earners 1970 /page 50 

43 Husband-wife families in artists’ occupations with artist as head and 

two or more earners 1970 /page 52 

44 1969 poverty status in artists’ occupations of husband-wife families 

with artist as head 1970 /page 53 

LIST OF FIGURES
 

I Age composition of male and female artists 1970 /page 8
 

II Sex composition of artists’ occupations 1970 /page 15
 

III Median earnings of artists and all professional workers
 

1970 and 1976 /page 22
 

IV Median earnings of male and female artists 1970 and 1976 /page 28
 

V Median personal earnings as a proportion of median household earnings
 

in artists’ occupations 1970 /page 45
 
INTRODUCTION
 

Certain fundamental characteristics of a
 

population can be studied to assess the
 

occupational conditions of a particular
 

group. Differences in social and economic
 

status in a community, for example, can
 

frequently be traced to a preponderance
 

of males or females, or the very young or
 

very old. The purpose of this report is
 

to examine a population of artists in
 

terms of age, sex, and earnings; and,
 

toward that end, the same characteristics
 

as recorded in 1970 and again in 1976
 

have been compared. The resulting information tells a good deal about contemporary artists and their lives and can also
 

be used to forecast the contribution of
 

the artist population to the future labor
 

supply and our national cultural life and
 

for planning to meet artists’ needs. The
 

findings will also serve as benchmark data
 

from which the 1980 Census can establish
 

suggested trends.
 

The term artist as used in this report
 

derives from usage established by the
 

Bureau of the Census of the United States
 

Department of Commerce and includes
 

people in the following categories:
 

actors, architects, dancers, designers,
 

musicians and composers, painters and
 

sculptors, photographers, radio and television announcers and a residual category
 

of artists, writers, and entertainers not
 

elsewhere classified. The term performing
 

artist encompasses actors, dancers,
 

musicians and composers, and radio and
 

television announcers. Artists are those
 

people at least 16 years old in the United
 

States experienced labor force; this
 

includes persons employed or self-employed
 

in any of the artist categories as well
 

as unemployed artists seeking work.
 

The aggregate of persons in the artist
 

occupations examined in this report increased 50 percent during 1970-76, from
 

600,000 to 900,000. In this period, however there was virtually no increase in
 

artists’ median earnings--which remained
 

at $7,900 in 1976, the same as in 1970.
 

Women artists’ median earnings were at
 

about 36 percent of the median for male
 

artists in 1970, and remained at 36 percent in 1976. The median for black artists’ earnings in fact dropped to 60 percent in 1976.
 

Median earnings for professionals rose 28
 

percent to $11,300 between 1970 and 1976.
 

Considering that the consumer price index
 

rose 47 percent during this period, artists’ median earnings were significantly
 

worse in 1976 when earnings of $7,900
 

were worth less than $5,400 by 1970
 

standards.
 

The lack of increase in artists’ earnings
 

is partially explained by the fact that in
 

1976, there were about 50 percent more
 

artists than in 1970 while the number of
 

persons in all professional occupations
 

increased by only 23 percent. The increase in the artist population created
 

an excess of artists to fill a limited
 

number of jobs. Furthermore those who
 

found jobs did so at the entry-level.
 

Much of the addition to the artist population came from groups traditionally at the
 

low end of the national income scale. The
 

number of women in artist occupations increased by nearly 80 percent while the
 

males in artists’ occupations increased
 

at only about half that rate.
 

In 1970 artists’ personal earnings accounted for 62 percent of their household
 

earnings, but by 1976 their contribution
 

to their households dropped to 44 percent.
 

Women artists were considerably more dependent on other household members than
 

were male artists and accounted for only
 

one-fourth of their total household income in both 1970 and 1976. In general,
 

the data in this report suggest that while
 

artists’ personal earnings are relatively
 

low compared with those of all professional workers, artists tend to be members of
 

households which compare closely with
 

total household earnings of all professional workers. Although artists’ median
 

personal earnings did not increase significantly between 1970 and 1976, their
 

total household earnings rose by about 40
 

percent during this period.
 

As for composition of the population studied by age and sex, it is made up of
 

relatively young people and it is predominantly male. From 1970 to 1976, it
 

became younger and the proportion of women
 

artists increased appreciably.
 

Beyond these observations it is important
 

to note that the end of the mid-decade
 

period was marked by a major recession in
 

which the rate of artist unemployment increased more than that of all professional
 

workers. The differential undoubtedly
 

reflects the increased proportion of
 

young persons, women, and blacks in artist occupations because it is well known
 

from other studies of the labor force
 

that unemployment rates are generally
 

higher for these groups.
 
Table I Median age of performing artists

and all artists 1970 and 1976 

1970
 

Performing artists
 

All artists
 

1976
 

Performing artists
 

All artists
 

Median
 

age
 

30.6
 

37.0
 

27.2
 

33.9
 

Age 

30-59 

Total 

60,717 

355,731 

43% 

59% 

139,897 

603,488 

83,204 

488,136 

34% 

54% 

247,427 

902,656 
 

CHAPTER I
 

AGE COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS
 

1970 AND 1976
 

Composition
 

In 1976, the median age of artists was 34.
 

This is 3 years younger than in 1970,
 

when the median age was 37 (see Table 1
 

and Table 2). The trend toward a younger
 

age composition also exists in the general United States labor force. Among all
 

professional workers, the median age
 

dropped from 38 years in 1970 to 35.5
 

years in 1976. The 1976 labor force is
 

relatively young because of the large number of workers aged about 30 who make up
 

the post-war baby boom generation. As
 

this group grows older, the median age of
 

artists and other workers is likely to
 

rise once again.
 

The proportion of artists under age 30 inTable2	 Arti~s’occupations

byage1970 

Occupation	 Median
 

age
 

Actors	 35.0
 

Architects	 40.6
 

Authors	 41.5
 

Dancers	 24.7
 

Designers	 37.2
 

Musicians/composers	 31.8
 

Painters/sculptors	 38.0
 

Photographers	 39.4
 

Radio-TV announcers	 28.9
 

Teachers of art, drama,	 38.8
 

and music (higher education)
 

Other artists not else-	 37.5
 

where classified
 

All artists	 37.0
 

creased from 33 percent in 1970 to 38 percent in 1976. The proportion of older
 

artists, those 60 years of age and over,
 

remained the same between 1970 and 1976,
 

at about 8 percent. This was similar to
 

the proportion of older people in all
 

professional occupations.
 

Certain artist occupations are relatively
 

youthful in comparison with other artist
 

occupations that tend to have a higher
 

proportion of older members. In general,
 

the performing arts have younger members
 

than other artist occupations. In 1976,
 

performing artists had a median age of 27
 

compared with a median age of 34 for all
 

artist occupations. Furthermore, about
 

61 percent of performing artists were
 

under the age of 30 in 1976 compared with
 

only 38 percent of all artists.
 

Data for 1970 show a similar age difference between performing artists and all
 

artists. For 1970 age data for specific
 

artist occupations are available, and
 

(as shown in Table i) the median age
 

Age
 

30-59
 

7,649
 

40,415
 

17,965
 

1,410
 

71,838
 

42,264
 

65,051
 

40,564
 

9,394
 

19,967
 

39,214
 

355,731 


54%
 

71%
 

69%
 

20%
 

64%
 

44%
 

61%
 

61%
 

42%
 

65%
 

61%
 

59%
 

14,140
 

57,081
 

26,004
 

6,924
 

112,325
 

96,537
 

107,476
 

65,960
 

22,296
 

30,654
 

64,091
 

603,488
 
Figure I Age composition of 

male and female artists 

1970 

Males Age 

1.6% 70+ 

2.0% 65-6~ 

4.1% 60-64 

6.0% 55-59 

7.6% 50-54 

10.2% 45-49 

11.8% 40-44 

11.9% 35-39 

13.3% 30-34 

15.0% 25-29 

12.3% 20-24 

4.3% 16-19 

Females
 

2.4%
 

2.7%
 

4.1%
 

5.7%
 

7.5%
 

9.3%
 

11.4%
 

9.6%
 

10.4%
 

13.5%
 

17.7%
 

5.7%
 
 

 

 

Table 3	 Male, female, and

all artists by age and sex

1970 and 1976 

1970	 Median Age
 

age 16-29
 

Male	 37.2 140,011 32%
 

Female	 36.4 58,969 37%
 

All artists	 37.0
 

1976
 

Male	 34.0 230,413 37%
 

Female	 33.7 I12,162 40%
 

All artists	 33.9
 3421575 38%
 

for artists is lower in all performing
 

artist occupations than it is in any of
 

the other artist occupations. Authors
 

tend to be older than any other type of
 

artist, averaging more than 41 years.
 

In the occupations of dancer and radio-


television announcer, more workers are
 

under the age of 30 than over 30. Dancers
 

are the youngest of all artists, with a
 

median age just under 25.
 

In 1976 as well as in 1970 median ages of
 

female artists tend to be a few months
 

younger than male artists (see Table 3).
 

In examining five-year age intervals for
 

1970, women were most likely to be in the
 

age 20-24 group, while men were most
 

likely to be in the age 25-29 group. As
 

illustrated in the age pyramid in Figure I
 

women artists also show a decline in
 

numbers in the age 30-39 group and an increase in number at ages 40-44. One may
 

hypothesize that this is a result of
 

women artists leaving the labor force to
 

bear and raise children and subsequently
 

reentering the labor force.
 

Earnings
 

The effects of age on earnings varied
 

somewhat by artist occupation. In 1970,
 

Age 60 and Total
 

30-59 over
 

269,796 61% 34,059 8% 443,866
 

85,935 54% 14~718 9% 159,622
 

355,731 59% 48,777 8% 603,488
 

338,205 55% 50,69.4 8% 619,312
 

149,931 53~ ~,25~ 7~ 283,344
 

488,136 54% 711945 8% 902,656
 
 

 

 

Table 4	 Unemployment rates in 

artists’ occupations 

by age 1970 

Occupation Age 

16-29 

30 and 

over 

Architects 2.5% 1.0% 

Dancers 12.2% 21.4% 

Musicians/composers 7.5% 5.4% 

Photographers 4.9% 1.8% 

Teachers of art, drama, 1.6% .7% 

and music (higher education) 

All artists 5.9% 3.8% 

Table 5	 Median earnings in 

artists’ occupations 

by age 1970 

Occupation Age 

16-29 

30 and 

over 

Architects $8,500 $14,100 

Dancers $2,900 $ 5,700 

Musicians/composers $1,800 $ 4,900 

Photographers $5,200 $ 9,100 

Teachers of art, drama, 

and music (higher education) 

$4,500 $10,600 

All artists $4,400 $ 9,800 

i0
 
young artists could expect to find earnings more comparable to the "30 and over"
 

artist group if they had occupations as
 

designers, authors, or architects. But
 

even in these occupations, earnings for
 

people under 30 were only about two-thirds
 

of earnings for those 30 and over. Young
 

artists could find the lowest comparable
 

earnings if they were musicians and composers, or actors, for all of whom 1970
 

earnings were extremely low.
 

Artists who are under the age of 30 are
 

likley to earn less than artists age 30
 

and over. As shown in Table 5, artists
 

under age 30 earned less than half the
 

median earnings of artists age 30 and
 

over in 1970.
 

Employment
 

Artists under age 30 were more likely to
 

be unemployed in 1970 than artists age 30
 

and over (see Table 4). At nearly 6
 

percent, artists under age 30 had an unemployment rate one and one-half times the
 

rate of artists 30 and over. Photographers, architects, and higher education
 

teachers of art, drama, and music who
 

were under 30 had unemployment rates that
 

were more than double the rates of persons
 

30 and over in these occupations.
 

For actors and dancers these findings are
 

reversed. Actors and dancers were less
 

likely to be unemployed if they were under
 

30 than if they were 30 or over. For
 

both age groups, actors and dancers had
 

much higher unemployment rates than other
 

artist occupations. Among older actors
 

and dancers, however, unemployment was
 

more severe than it was for the younger
 

ones. In the case of dancers, their
 

careers are coming to an end or often
 

ended at age 30 because of the physical
 

demands of their occupation. As noted
 

earlier, their median age is less than 25.
 

Weeks worked
 

The data tabulated in Table 6 demonstrate
 

that artists under age 30 worked fewer
 

weeks per year than artists 30 and over.
 

The table shows that nearly 15 percent of
 

artists under age 30 worked 13 weeks or
 

less in 1969 and only about two-thirds
 

worked 40 weeks or more. During the same
 

year, 85 percent of artists age 30 and
 

over worked at least 40 weeks.
 

ii
 

Table 6 Weeks worked by artists

in 1969 by age 

Weeks worked 30 and 

over 

13 or less 4.7% 

14-39 10.4% 

40-49 15.2% 

50-52 69.7% 
 

Table 7	 Percent of artists working 

forty or more weeks by 

occupation and age 1970 

Occupation	 Age 30 and
 

16-29 over
 

Architects	 74% 95%
 

Dancers	 42% 60%
 

Musicians/composers	 44% 71%
 

Photographers	 72 % 91%
 

Teachers of art, drama,	 59% 76%
 

and music (higher education)
 

All artists	 63% 85%
 

Work levels vary considerably by artist
 

occupation, but in each occupation young
 

artists consistently work fewer weeks per
 

year than do artists age 30 and over. In
 

1970, architects who worked 40 or more
 

weeks had the highest percentage at 91
 

percent, but only 74 percent of architects
 

under age 30 worked at that level. Data
 

for other artist occupations are shown in
 

Table 7.
 

Length of time in occupation
 

The 1970 Census obtained some information
 

on occupation five years earlier as well
 

as on current occupation. Among artists,
 

about half indicated they had the same
 

occupation in both 1965 and 1970. This
 

provides a rough measure of an artist’s
 

experience and establishment in the occupation, which can be equated with such
 

Table 8	 Proportion of artists with
 

same occupation in
 

1965 and 1970
 

Occupation	 Age 30 and
 

16-29 over
 

Architects	 17.0% 75.1%
 

Dancers	 8.9% 42.8%
 

Musicians/composers	 20.2% 67.3%
 

Photographers	 20.1% 73.0%
 

Teachers of art, drama, 8.5% 44.1%
 

and music (higher education)
 

All artists	 17.7% 63.8%
 

other status measures as employment and


earnings.
 

Age of the artist is an important variable
 

in determining length of time in an occupation. Census data show that older
 

artists are most likely to be in the same
 

occupation over a five-year period. For
 

artists age 30 and over, 64 percent had
 

the same occupation in 1965 and 1970 (see
 

Table 8). For artists under age 30, only
 

18 percent had the same occupation (however, most artists are entering their
 

occupation at this age).
 

There are some major differences among
 

younger and older artists for the proportion that remain in their individual occupations at least five years. For
 

example, young radio-TV announcers under
 

age 30 are more than three times as likely
 

as authors in the same age group to have
 

the same occupation. Among older artists,
 

12
 
Table 9	 Median school years completed 

in artists’ occupations by age 

1970 

Occupation	 Years of school
 

Age 30 and
 

16-29 over
 

Architects	 17.3 17.0
 

Dancers	 12.4 12.4
 

Musicians/composers 13.0 13.0
 

Photographers 12.9 12.6
 

Teachers of art, drama, 17.7 18.2
 

and music (higher education)
 

All artists	 14.0 14.2
 

architects are the most likely to have
 

been in the same occupation in 1965 as
 

1970 and dancers are the least likely.
 

Education
 

There is little difference in educational
 

attainment for artists of different age
 

groups. Table 9 shows that in 1970 artists under age 30 had completed an average
 

of 14 years of schooling. This is equivalent to the completion of high school plus
 

Table 10	 National distribution
 

of artists by age


1970
 

Age 30 and
 

Region 16-29 over
 

North Central 17%	 21%
 

South	 18% 22%
 

Table 11	 Regional artist

population by age 1970 

Age	 30 and
 

Region	 16-29
 over
 

North Central 30%	 70%
 

West	 51%
 49%
 

2 years of college. For artists age 30
 

and over, educational attainment was nearly the same, at 14.2 years.
 

In certain occupations, educational attainment is greater for young artists than it
 

is for artists 30 and over. The 1970 data
 

show that differences in educational attainment were greatest in the occupations
 

of painter/sculptor and designer, where
 

younger artists had more years of education than artists 30 and over. The percentage of artists who attended college
 

is about the same for artists under 30 and
 

for those 30 and over, at about 60 percent.
 

13
 
Residence
 

The 1970 data show a marked tendency for
 

young artists to live in the western
 

region of the United States. This area
 

includes the states of California, Oregon,
 

Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming,
 

Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii. As shown in Table
 

i0 nearly half (47 percent) of all artists
 

under the age of 30 lived in the West
 

compared with 24 percent of artists age
 

30 and over who lived there.
 

Artists over the age of 30 were more evenly distributed around the country in 1970
 

than were artists under 30. Among artists
 

age 30 and over, more lived in New York,
 

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut,
 

Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
 

Vermont, and Maine than in any other region. One-third of artists age 30 and
 

over lived in the Northeast in 1970 compared with only 18 percent of younger
 

artists.
 

The South and North Central regions had
 

similar proportions of artists under and
 

over 30, at about 20 percent for each
 

group in each region.
 

Artists under the age of 30 made up 33
 

percent of all United States artists in
 

1970. This proportion varies in the
 

different regions of the country as shown
 

in Table ii. The Northeast region had the
 

smallest proportion of artists under age
 

30 with only 22 percent of artists in this
 

age group. In contrast, in the West the
 

artist population is almost equally
 

divided between those under age 30 and
 

those over age 30. The South and North
 

Central regions are close to the national
 

average, with 30 percent of their artists
 

under age 30.
 

14 
CHAPTER II
 

SEX COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS
 

1970 AND 1976
 

Composition
 

Although there is considerable variation
 

in the relative representation of men and
 

women in the different artist occupations
 

(see Table 12), the proportion of men is
 

much higher in the total of artist occupations than it is among all professional
 

occupations (see Table 13). In 1976, the
 

artist occupations were 69 percent male
 

compared with 57 percent male in all professional occupations. Between 1970 and
 

1976 the number of women artists increased
 

by over 75 percent while the number of
 

male artists increased by 40 percent.
 

However, the proportion of women artists
 

remains relatively low when compared with
 

women in all professional occupations.
 

Despite their numerical increase, the
 

Figure II	 Sex composition of

artists’ occupations 1970 

Females 

Dancers 82% 

Actors 42% 

Painters/sculptors 37% 

Teachers of art, drama 

and music (higher 35% 

education) 

Musicians/composers 34% 

Authors 31% 

Designers 24% 

Photographers 14% 

Radio-TV announcers 6%
 

Architects	 4%
 

proportion of women in the arts has only
 

grown from 26 percent of the 600,000
 

artists in 1970 to 31 percent of the
 

900,000 artists 1976---whereas women constitute 43 percent of all professional
 

workers in 1976.
 

In 1970 there were large differences in
 

the sex composition of specific artist
 

occupations. Dance was the only occupation in which there were more women (82
 

percent) than men. In contrast, women
 

made up only 4 percent of the architect
 

labor force and 6 percent of radio-TV
 

announcers. This means that for every female architect, there were 25 male architects; for every female announcer, there
 

were 14 male announcers; and for every
 

female photographer, there were 6 male
 

photographers. Figure II compares the
 

sex composition of all artist occupations
 

in 1970. Minorities and Women in the
 

Arts: 1970, National Endowment for the
 

Arts, Research Division Report #7 (see
 

list at the back of this report), provides more detailed information.
 

Males
 

18%
 

58%
 

63%
 

65%
 

66%
 

69%
 

76%
 

86%
 

94%
 

96%
 

15
 
Table 12 Artists’ occupations

by sex 1970 

Occupation
 

Actors
 

Architects
 

Authors
 

Dancers
 

Designers
 

Musicians/composers
 

Painters/sculptors
 

Photographers
 

Radio-TV announcers
 

Teachers of art, drama,
 

and music (higher education)
 

Other artists not elsewhere classified
 

All artists
 

Sex of artists and 

professional workers 

1970 and 1976 

Table 13 

Occupation
 

All artists
 

All professional
 

workers
 

Female
 

5,927
 

2,133
 

7,935
 

5,653
 

27,082
 

32,860
 

39,559
 

9,434
 

1,423
 

10,662
 

16,954
 

159,622
 

1976
 

Number
 

903,000
 

14,356,000
 

42%
 

4%
 

31%
 

82%
 

24%
 

34%
 

37%
 

14%
 

6%
 

35%
 

26%
 

26%
 

Percent
 

male
 

69%
 

57%
 

Percent
 

female
 

31%
 

43%
 

16
 
(Statistics in Report #7 differ for a figure similar to Figure II because the labor
 

reserve as well as the labor force was
 

included.)
 

Increases in the proportion of women artists between 1970 and 1976 seem to be
 

concentrated in the nonperforming artist
 

occupations. In the performing arts, the
 

proportion of women declined from 33 percent in 1970 to 29 percent in 1976 (see
 

Table 14.) Estimates for 1976 indicate
 

that the occupations in which women have
 

increased their participation include
 

painter and sculptor, author, and teacher
 

of art, drama, and music in higher education. The data indicate a decline in the
 

proportion of women for the other artist
 

occupations.
 

In 1970, there was little variation in
 

the sex composition of artists in different age groups. (There is, of course, considerable variation in the sex composition
 

within the individual artist occupations.)
 

About two-thirds of each age group were
 

male and one-third female in 1970. Artists under age 30 were about 33 percent
 

female, compared with 31 percent female
 

among artists age 30 and over.
 

Earninqs
 

In 1970, female artists had median earnings of $3,400 per year while male artists
 

had median earnings of $9,500 per year.
 

This means that female artists as a group
 

earned only 36 percent of the earnings of
 

male artists. The 1976 earnings data show
 

an increase in median earnings to $4,000
 

for women and $10,900 for men. This represents virtually no change over the six-


year period in the proportional earnings
 

gap between male and female artists.
 

Low median earnings for women are not
 

unique to the artist ~ccupations (see
 

Table 15). Data for all professional
 

workers in 1970 show that women professionals had median earnings that were 57
 

percent of the median earnings of male
 

professionals. Like the artist population, no significant reduction in the
 

male-female proportional earnings gap
 

occurred among all professional workers
 

from 1970 to 1976.
 

Lower earnings for women are partially
 

explained by higher unemployment rates
 

and less time worked during the year than
 

men. These differences are explained in
 

the following sections.
 

17 
 

 

1970 

Table 14 

All artists
 

Performing artists 


Table 15 

All artis
 

All professional
 

workers
 

Performing artists

and all artists by sex 

1970 and 1976 

Male Female
 

443,866 74% 159,622
 

175,069 71% 72,358
 

Med ian earnings of artists 

and all professional workers 

by sex 1970 and 1976 

Total
 

26% 603,488
 

29% 247,427
 

1976
 

Female
 

$10,900 $4,000
 

$14,500 $8,400
 

18
 
 

 

 

Table 16 Unemployment rates in Table 18 Proportion of artists artists’ occupations working forty or more by sex 1970 weeks by sex 1970 

Occupation Male Female 

Architects 1.4% 2.0% 

Dancers 20.9% 13.3% 

Musicians/composers 8.1% 4.2% 

Photographers 2.4% 6.7% 

Teachers of art, drama, .7% 1.3% 

and music (higher education) 

All artists 4.0% 6.3% 

Table 17 Distribution of 

weeks worked 

by sex 1969 

Weeks worked Male Female 

14-39 i1.3% 23.4% 

50-52 68.6% 43.1% 

Occupation Male Female
 

Architects 91% 88%
 

Dancers 59% 43%
 

Musicians/composers 61% 54%
 

Photographers 88% 68%
 

61%
 

Teachers of art, drama, 80% 55%
 

and music, (higher education)
 

All artists 83% 62%
 

Employment
 

Women artists have more difficulty finding
 

employment than male artists (see Table
 

16). In 1970, the unemployment rate for
 

female artists was 6.3 percent compared
 

with 4 percent for male artists.
 

Unemployment rates for women were higher
 

than the rates for men in most artist
 

occupations. The exceptions were the occupations of musicians/composers and dancers, where men had higher unemployment
 

rates. Among authors, unemployment rates
 

were the same for both sexes.
 

Weeks worked
 

Women artists tend to average fewer work
 

weeks during the year than male artists.
 

In 1970, 62 percent of female artists
 

worked 40 or more weeks compared with 83
 

percent of male artists. Less than half
 

of all women artists worked the full year
 

(50-52 weeks), as shown in Table 17, while
 

more than two-thirds of male artists
 

worked this amount.
 

19
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 19 Proportion of artists with

same occupation in 

Table 20 Median school years

completed in artists’ 

1965 and 1970 by sex occupations by sex 1970 

Years of school 

completed 

Occupation Male Female Occupation Male Female 

Architects 64.4% 54.8% Architects 17.0 17.0 

Dancers 20.5% 15.2% Dancers 12.9 12.3 

Musicians/composers 45.3% 45.8% Musicians/composers 12.9 13.6 

Photographers 59.2% 41.4% Photographers 12.7 12.6 

Teachers of art, drama, 36.7% 30.2% Teachers of art, drama, 17+ 17+ 

and music (higher edu­ and music (higher education) cation) 

All artists 52.4% 39.0% All artists 14.2 14.0 

In all artist occupations, a higher proportion of males than females worked 40 

or more weeks during the year. Among 

architects, women averaged more weeks 

worked in 1970 than in any other artist 

occupation. As a result, architects had 

the smallest difference in male-female 

work levels. In 1970, 91 percent of male 

architects worked 40 or more weeks compared with 88 percent of female architects. Table 18 shows the percentage of 

artists in each occupation who worked 40 

or more weeks. 

Length of time in occupation 

Although nearly half of all artists indicated they were in the same occupation in 

both 1965 and 1970 the proportion for men 

was higher than women---with 52 percent 

of males as compared with 39 percent of 

20 
females reporting the same occupation in
 

both years (see Table 19).
 

The occupations of painter/sculptor and
 

photographer showed the largest differences between males and females in the
 

proportion who reported being in those
 

occupations for both time periods--62 percent of male painters and sculptors compared with 39 percent of female painters
 

and sculptors. Among photographers, 59
 

percent of males and 41 percent of females
 

reported being in the same occupation in
 

1965 and 1970. The occupations of musician/composer and radio-TV announcer were
 

the only ones in which the same proportion
 

of men and women reported the same occupations in 1965 and 1970.
 

Education
 

The level of educational attainment is
 

very similar for male and female artists.
 

In 1970, male artists averaged 14.2 years
 

of completed schooling, and female artists
 

averaged 14.0 years. This is equivalent
 

to the completion of high school plus two
 

years of college. As shown in Table 20,
 

male and female artists had similar levels of education in all of the artist occupations.
 

Residence
 

Data on artists employed in 1970 showed
 

no differences in geographic distribution
 

of male and female artists in the four
 

major regions of the United States. About
 

31 percent of each sex reside in the Northeast; 24 percent in the North Central; 23
 

percent in the South; and 22 percent in
 

the West. For a detailed discussion of
 

the geographic distribution of the United
 

States artist population, see Where Artists Live: 1970, National Endowment for
 

the Arts, Research Division Report #5
 

(see list at the back of this report).
 

21 
CHAPTER III
 

EARNINGS 1970 AND 1976
 

Personal earnin@s
 

Comparing income statistics in the artist
 

population shows differences in earnings
 

among artists of various occupations,
 

ages, educational backgrounds, and regions, as well as between males and females and blacks and whites. Household
 

earnings for artists are also examined
 

because these data are useful in understanding the extent of financial dependence of artists on other members of their
 

households.
 

Earnings data used in this report were
 

collected in 1970 and 1976. The 1976 data
 

provide some understanding of earning
 

trends, the most important of which is
 

that earnings for artists are not increasing as much as earnings for the rest
 

of the American workforce. The earnings
 

picture for artists in 1976 appears relatively worse than that of 1970. Comparisons of income estimates from the 1976 SIE
 

and the 1970 Census are contained throughout this report. When comparing earnings
 

data from these two sources, it should be
 

remembered that some differences exist in
 

conceptual, collection, and processing
 

procedures used by the Bureau of the
 

Census for the 1970 Census and the SIE.
 

Most important, the 1976 SIE had a more
 

extensive battery of income questions,
 

better trained interviewers, nearly all
 

data were obtained by personal interviews,
 

and new processing procedures were used
 

to impute missing or incomplete income
 

responses. The numbers of artists in 1970
 

as shown in the tables in this chapter
 

were derived from the 1970 Census Public
 

Use Sample and vary slightly from the
 

estimates shown in Chapters I and II which
 

are based on Occupational Characteristics,


Census of Population: 1970 Final Report
 

PC (2)-7A.
 

Artists’ earnings in 1970 and 1976 were
 

relatively low among all professional
 

workers. In 1970, median earnings were
 

$7,900 (see Table 21). This compares with
 

$8,800 for all professional workers (from
 

the 1970 Census).
 

From 1970 to 1976 there was no increase
 

in artists’ median earnings, which remained at $7,900 in 1976. (Median earnings
 

figures are rounded to the nearest hundred
 

dollars. A more precise measure of change
 

in median earnings between 1970 and 1976
 

Figure III	 Median earnings of artists and 

all professional workers 

1970 and 1976 

Artists All professionals
 

1970 1976 1970
 1976
 

$7,900 $7,900 $8,800 $11,300
 

22
 
Table 21	 Median earnings of performing 

artists and all artists 

1970 and 1976 

Performing artists
 

All artists
 

is not presented because the figures are
 

estimates subject to sampling variability).
 

In comparison to the unchanged figure for
 

artists, median earnings for all professional workers rose to $ii,300--a 28 percent increase. Figure III illustrates
 

this comparison. Considering that the
 

consumer price index rose by 47 percent
 

during this period, as reported by the
 

U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor
 

Statitistics, the artist population’s
 

median earnings were significantly worse
 

in 1976 than in 1970. Artists’ median
 

1976 earnings of $7,900 were worth less
 

than $5,400 by 1970 standards.
 

The data indicate artists are not high
 

earners. Fifty-eight percent of artists
 

earned less than $i0,000 in 1976, compared
 

with 42 percent of all professional
 

workers. Only about 6 percent of all artists earned $25,000 or more.
 

The absence of change in artists’ median
 

earnings between 1970 and 1976 may be explained by several factors. One is the
 

depressed state of the United States economy during 1973-75. Any gains in artists’ earnings which may have taken place
 

during 1970-73 may have been offset by
 

earning decreases which were evident in
 

the economy during the 1973-75 recession.
 

Lack of growth in artists’ earnings is
 

also due to the changing composition of
 

the artist population during 1970-76.
 

Particularly significant is the dramatic
 

increase in the total number of persons
 

with occupations in the arts (see Table
 

i). In 1976 there were about 50 percent
 

more artists than in 1970, increasing
 

from about 600,000 to more than 900,000.
 

1976
 

Median 

earnings 

247,427 $3,700 

902~656 $7,900 

Table 22	 Median earnings in

artists’ occupations 

1970 

Actors	 $ 5,900
 

Authors	 $ 8,900
 

Designers	 $i0,i00
 

Painters/sculptors	 $ 7,000
 

Radio-TV announcers	 $ 7,100
 

Other artists not else- $ 7,700
 

where classified
 

23
 

800 
During this period, the number of persons and black artists further deflated over-


in all types of professional occupations all earnings because of the low wages
 

increased by only 23 percent. Further- received by these groups.
 

more, the rate of increase for artists
 

was greater among women than men. The
 

number of women in artist occupations increased by nearly 80 percent, while the
 

number of male artists increased at half
 

that rate. The number of black artists Income variations
 

more than doubled during this period.
 

The performing artist occupations grew at There is a wide range of actual earnings
 

a faster rate than other artist occupa- in the different artist occupations (see
 

tions, increasing by nearly 80 percent. Table 22). Certain artists have more
 

difficulty than others in finding employ-


This overall increase in the size of the ment and maintaining an adequate income
 

artist population created greater numbers level. Such factors as age and experience
 

of artists to fill a limited number of and whether the artist is male or female
 

jobs and a gre~ter proportion who filled all influence the earning level, and the
 

low-paying, entry level jobs. The type of occupation is naturally a major
 

large increases in the number of female differentiating item. The reasons for
 

Table 23	 Earningsin arti~s’ 

occup~ionsl970 

Earnings Architects	 Teachers of Actors Authors Dancers Designers
 

art, drama,
 

and music
 

(higher education)
 

7,160
 $7,000-7,999 1,637 1,873 898 1,497 264
 

$8,000-8,999 2,828 2,265 567 1,899 166 7,872
 

$9,000-9,999 2,802 1,934 367 1,135 202 8,067
 

12,072
 $10,000-10,999 4,200 3,098 536 2,331 168
 

3,202 1,929 302 1,669 167 7,049
 $11,000-11,999
 

$12,000-12,999 4,630 1,865 569 1,425 33 7,941
 

967 67 4,987
 $13,000-13,999 3,298 1,366 167
 

Total	 56,639 30,628 13,801 26,406 6,607 110,565
 

24
 
income differences among artists are their median earnings remained the same.
 

numerous and interrelated, but some patterns emerge. This section examines in-
 In specific artist occupations, 1970 data
 come variations among artists and the show architects as the highest earners
 reasons for these differences.
 with median incomes of $12,800 per year
 

(see Table 23). Other artist occupations
 

with median earnings better than the
 

average were designers, teachers of art,
 

drama, and music in higher education, and
 

authors. Artists with the lowest earnings
 

were musicians/composers and dancers.
 Occupation
 

There may be many reasons why earnings
 

Occupation is a major factor determining differ from one artist occupation to the
 

how much an artist earns. In general, next. The employment market for artists
 

performing artists earn considerably less is a factor not examined here. Each occuthan other artists. Performing artists pation is examined by age, sex, race, and
 

in each of the actor, dancer, musician/ educational background as well as the
 

composer, and radio-TV announcer occupa- geographic distribution of the occupation.
 

tions earned below the median income for These factors are summarized in the para-


all artists in 1970. As a group, perform- graphs which follow for each artist
 

ing artists had median earnings of only occupation. Only 1970 data and figures
 

$3,700 in 1970. Six years later, in 1976, are considered in this occupational
 

Musicians/ 

composers 

Painters/ 

sculptors 

Photographers Radio-TV 

announcers 

Other artists not Total 

elsewhere 

classified 

110,378 

29.840 

31,468 

27,812 

33,768 

453 

4,171 

3,756 

2,231 

3,294 

1,405 

1,536 

730 

6,655 

7,134 

6,032 

7,171 

3,393 

4,802 

2,829 

5,599 

5,218 

5,300 

4,871 

3,035 

3,492 

1,866 

1,767 

1,402 

1,201 

1,565 

830 

697 

700 

3,630 

4,208 

4,311 

4,890 

2,998 

3,066 

1,704 

35,151 

37,315 

33,582 

44,196 

25,979 

30,056 

18,591 

2,~2,506 

95,548 107,264 66,028 22,101 63,807 599,394 

25 
Table 24	 Earnings of 

performing artists 

and all artists 

1976 

Earnings Performing All 

artists artists 

$0-1,999 78,998 183 309 

$3,000-3,999 13,765 40,450 

$5,000-5,999 10,722 30,611 

$7,000-7,999 5,729 32 187 

$9,000-9,999 2 870 27 874 

$11,000-11,999 2 748 29,945 

$13,000-13,999 3,697 33 168 

$15,000-15,999 12,034 38,286 

$17,000-17,999 5,685 24,611 

$19,000-19,999 437 10,094 

$25,000+ 9,596 55,240 

Median earnings $3,713 $7,936 

summary because data on individual occupations are not available from the SIE
 

survey. For comparison of performing
 

artists’ earnings to the total artist
 

population in 1976, see Table 24.
 

Actors, with median annual earnings of
 

$5,900 in 1970, earned less than most other
 

artists. Their low earnings are due in
 

part to their average work level of only
 

34 weeks per year--fewer weeks worked a
 

year than artists in any other occupation.
 

Actors who worked 40 or more weeks a year
 

increased their median earnings by nearly
 

half, to $8,700. The disparity in income
 

between male and female artists was less
 

among actors than most other artists; female actors earned 74 percent of the earnings of male actors. As with other artists,
 

median earnings for actors peaked in the
 

35-54 age group. Actors living in the
 

western United States had higher median
 

earnings than those living in other regions
 

of the United States.
 

Architects had the highest median earnings
 

of any artist occupation, at $12,800 in
 

1970. Those who worked 40 or more weeks
 

per year earned $13,400. Architects are
 

amonq the best educated of all artists.
 

Earnings were highest in the 35-54 age
 

group. Like other artist occupations,
 

female architects earned about half as
 

much as male architects. Earnings of
 

architects tend to be uniform across the
 

regions of the nation. However, there
 

are differences for cities; the average
 

New York City architect earned about
 

$1,300 more than architects in Los
 

Angeles or Chicago in 1970.
 

Teachers of art, drama, and music in higher education earned $9,100, which is higher than the median earnings for most other
 

artist occupations. Only architects and
 

designers earned more. Because of the
 

nine-month academic year, teachers of art,
 

drama, and music in higher education
 

worked fewer weeks per year than most
 

other types of artists. Their education
 

is greater than that of other artist occupational groups. Women in the occupation
 

earned only half as much as men. Unlike
 

other artist occupations, median earnings
 

for higher education teachers were highest
 

in the oldest age group, 55-64. They
 

earned more in the West and Northeast regions of the country than in the South or
 

Central regions. In Los Angeles, they
 

earned $2,000 more per year than in New
 

York City or Chicago.
 

26
 
Authors earn more than the average artist
 

and have relatively high work levels.
 

Their median earnings were $8,900 per year,
 

and increased to $10,200 for those working 40 or more weeks during the year.
 

Women authors earned half of what male
 

authors earned. Authors tend to be older
 

than other types of artists and better
 

educated than most. There is little difference in authors’ median earnings from
 

one region of the country to another
 

although authors in the southern United
 

States earned slightly more than those
 

elsewhere, and Los Angeles had slightly
 

better paid authors than New York or
 

Chicago.
 

Dancers are among the lowest paid of all
 

artists--only musicians earned less in
 

1970. Median earnings for dancers were
 

$3,300. Their low earnings correlate with
 

their low work levels (averaging 38 weeks
 

per year) and the predominance of women
 

in the occupation. It is the only artist
 

occupation which has a majority of women
 

(82 percent). It is also the artist occupation with the smallest gap in median
 

earnings between men and women. However,
 

female dancers still earn 12 percent less
 

than male dancers. Also correlating with
 

low median earnings are low educational
 

levels (only 22 percent of dancers attended college) and youth (median age is
 

25). Median earnings for dancers are
 

uniformly low across the country, but
 

lower in the South than elsewhere. New
 

York City dancers have higher median earnings than those in Los Angeles or Chicago.
 

Desi@ners are among the best paid of all
 

types of artists, with median earnings of
 

$10,100. Only architects earned more in
 

1970. Designers have high work levels,
 

averaging more than 50 weeks per year.
 

Their educational level is about average
 

for artists. Like other artist occupations, their median earnings peak in the
 

35-54 age group, and women in the occupation earn exactly half what male designers
 

earn. Earnings are highest in the northern regions of the United States, and are
 

similar among the metropolitan centers of
 

New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
 

Musicians/composers had the lowest median
 

earnings of any artist occupation, averaging about $3,000 per year. Musicians
 

who worked 40 or more weeks per year
 

were able to increase their median earnings to $5,200. Like other performing
 

artists, musicians have relatively low
 

work levels, averaging 45 weeks. Their
 

earnings tend to rise with age and education, but both are relatively low.
 

Women musicians have extremely low median earnings, less than one-third of male
 

musicians’ median earnings. Earnings for
 

musicians are low throughout the country
 

27
 

but are slightly higher in the West and
 

East than in the central or southern
 

parts of the country.
 

Painters/sculptors follow a typical earning pattern for artists. They had median
 

earnings of $7,000 a year, but increased
 

their earnings to $8,400 for those working 40 or more weeks a year. Their earnings tend to increase with education and
 

peak in the 35-54 age group. Women in
 

the occupation earn only 42 percent of
 

men in the occupation. Median earnings
 

for painters and sculptors are higher in
 

the northern regions than in the South or
 

West. New York City and Chicago provide
 

better earnings than Los Angeles.
 

Photographers’ median earnings were
 

$7,800, which is average for the irtist
 

occupations. Their work levels are relatively high. The occupation is predominantly male, with women earning less than
 

half of male photographers. Although
 

their educational level is relatively low
 

(only 36 percent had any college), it does
 

not seem to affect their earnings. Photographers tend to earn about the same, regardless of educational attainment. Earnings are highest in the 35-54 age group.
 

Across the major regions of the country
 

(see Table 34), photographers’ median
 

earnings are very uniform, although they
 

earned slightly more in Chicago than in
 

New York or Los Angeles.
 

Radio-TV announcers had median earnings
 

of $7,100, which was about average for
 

artists. Their work levels are relatively
 

high. The occupation is overwhelmingly
 

male (94 percent) and women in the occupation earn only 42 percent of males.
 

Radio-TV announcers are relatively young
 

(median age is 29). As in other artist
 

occupations, their earnings peak in the
 

35-54 age group. Educational attainment
 

is about average for these artists (63 percent attended college), and earnings in the
 

occupation tend to correlate with education. The Northeast region of the country provides better median earnings for
 

radio-TV announcers than any other region;
 

the South provides the lowest. Los
 

Angeles has considerably better earnings
 

for this occupation than either Chicago
 

or New York.
 

Weeks worked
 

The amount of time artists spend on income-producing work is an important factor
 

in determining their earning level. For
 

example, in the performing arts occupations, where employment periods are frequently short, earnings were less than
 

one-half for all artists. In 1970 and
 

1976, only about 60 percent of performing
 
 

 

 

Table 25	 Proportion of performing 

artists, all artists, and all 

professionals who worked 

forty or more weeks 

1970 and 1976 

1970 1976
 

All artists	 79% 74%
 

Table 26	 Median earnings of artists 

by weeks worked 

1970 and 1976 

Median Median for Percentage
 

for all artists who increase
 

artists worked 40 or
 

more weeks
 

1970 $7,900 $ 9,400 19%
 

1976 $7,900 $10,700 35%
 

artists worked at least 40 weeks a year
 

(see Table 25).
 

The effects of longer work periods on
 

artists’ earnings are shown in Table 26.
 

Artists who reported working 40 or more
 

weeks in 1970 earned 19 percent more than
 

the general group of artists, and those
 

who reported working 40 or more weeks in
 

1976 earned about a third more than all
 

artists.
 

In specific artist occupations, 1970
 

data show that actors, dancers, and musicians/composers averaged fewer weeks
 

worked a year than other artists. Median
 

weeks worked for actors were about 34,
 

for dancers the period was 38, and for
 

musicians/composers it was 45. All other
 

artist occupations averaged 46 or more
 

weeks per year. This lesser amount of
 

time worked by actors, dancers, and musicians/composers is reflected in their
 

annual earnings. In 1970, median earnings
 

for these occupations is greater by 50 to
 

70 percent when we consider only persons
 

in these occupations who worked 40 or more
 

weeks (see Table 27).
 

Sex
 

Female artists make only about 36 percent
 

of the median earnings of male artists--a
 

situation which did not change from 1970
 

to 1976. In 1970, female artists had median earnings of $3,400 per year, while
 

male artists had median earnings of $9,500
 

per year (see Figure IV). By 1976 median
 

earnings increased to $4,000 for women
 

Figure IV Median earnings of male and female artists 1970 and 1976 

Female artists 

1970 

$3,400 

1976 

$4,000 

Male artists 

1970 

$9,500 

1976 

$10,900 

28
 
Table 27 Percentage increase of those

who worked forty or more weeks

in artists’ occupations 1970 

Occupation Median Median for artists Percent 

who worked 40 or increase 

more weeks 

Architects $12,800 $13,400 5% 

Dancers $ 3,300 $ 5,700 73% 

Musicians/composers $ 3,000 $ 5,200 73% 

Photographers $ 7,800 $ 8,500 9% 

Teachers of art, drama, $ 9,100 $10,400 14% 

and music (higher education) 

29
 
Table 28 Artists’ earnings by sex 

1970 and 1976 

1970 

Earnings 

Males 

Number 

Females 

Cumulative Number 

Total 

Cumulative Number Cumulative 

$6,000-6,999 

$7,000-7,999 

$8,000-8,999 

$9,000-9,999 

$10,000-10,999 

$11,000-11,999 

22,684 

26,856 

30,045 

28,516 

38,957 

23,677 

33.6% 

39.7% 

46.5% 

53.0% 

61.8% 

67.2% 

9,769 

8,295 

7,270 

5,066 

5,239 

2,302 

76.1% 

81.4% 

86.0% 

89.2% 

92.5% 

93.9% 

32,453 

35,151 

37,315 

33,582 

44,196 

25,979 

44.8% 

50.7% 

56.9% 

62.5% 

69.9% 

74.2% 

Total 441,165 158,229 599,394
 

Median earnings $9,540 $3,373 $7,880
 

3O
 
 

1976 

and $10,900 for men (see Table 28).
 

Low earnings for women are not unique to
 

the arts. Data for all professional
 

workers in 1976 show that women professionals had median incomes that were 58
 

percent of the median incomes of male professionals. Differences in male and
 

female earnings are, however, greater in
 

the artist occupations than they are
 

among all professional workers.
 

An earlier National Endowment for the Arts
 

Research Division Report, Minorities and
 

Women in the Arts: 1970, dealt with
 

earnings of "established" artists who were
 

at least 30 years old, had worked in the
 

same occupation in 1965 and 1970, and
 

had worked 40 weeks or more during the
 

year. These earnings statistics were controlled for the effects of job inexperience and low work levels and showed that
 

established women artists had median
 

Males Females
 

Number Cumulative Number Cumulative 


29,284 37.8% 14,127 66.0% 

16,158 

21,988 

40.4% 

44.0% 

16,029 

21,042 

71.7% 

79.1% 

17,139 46.7% 10,735 82.9% 

22,312 50.3% 12,515 87.3% 

21,048 53.7% 8,897 90.5% 

earnings that were less than half the
 

median earnings of comparably established
 

male artists: $5,500 for females as
 

opposed to $12,000 for males. Large
 

income differences between the sexes
 

existed in all artist occupations.
 

Census data provide little additional
 

information on reasons for inequality in
 

pay. However, much has been written on
 

this topic, suggesting such factors as
 

delays in career development of women due
 

to marriage, childrearing, lack of job
 

training, less time available for income-


producing work, occupational segregation,
 

and discriminatory practices in employment and appraisals of work. Census data
 

do show that women artists spend less time
 

working for pay. In 1970 the proportion
 

of male artists working 50 to 52 weeks
 

per year and 30 hours or more per week was
 

nearly double the proportion of female
 

artists working at this level.
 

Total
 

Number Cumulative
 

43,411 46.7%
 

32,187 50.2%
 

43,030 55.0%
 

27,874 58.1%
 

34,827 61.9%
 

29,945 65.2%
 

31
 
Table 29	 Median earnings

in artists’ occupations

by age and sex 1970 

Age 18-24	 Age 25-34
 

Occupation	 Males Females Males Females
 

Architects	 $4,600 $3,500 $10,900 $8,000
 

Dancers	 $3,200 $2,900 $ 5,500 $4,100
 

Musicians/composers	 $1,900 $1,300 $ 6,500 $1,700
 

Photographers	 $4,000 $1,900 $ 8,400 $4,100
 

Teachers of art, drama, $1,900 $1,450 $ 8,000 $4,800
 

and music (higher education)
 

All artists	 $3,100 $2,300 $ 9,100 $4,400
 

*Denotes too few cases for reliable estimates.
 

Cases included in median earnings for "All artists."
 

32
 
Age
 

Age of the artist is an important factor
 

in earnings for all artist occupations.
 

In 1970, artists between the ages of 18
 

and 24 were very low earners, averaging
 

about $3,000 per year. Earnings rose with
 

age and peaked in the 34-54 age group,
 

declining slightly after age 55.
 

There were some interesting exceptions.
 

Among teachers and musicians/composers,
 

median earnings did not decline after age
 

55. Among women, the earning peak occurred
 

at a younger age, between 25 and 34, declining slightly after age 35 and then remaining stable (see Table 29).
 

Age 35-54 Age 55-64 

Males Females Males 

$15,300 $7,500 $15,100 

$12,500 $6,000 ...* 

$ 8,400 $1,700 $ 8,500 

$ 9,900 $4,000 $ 9,400 

$12,700 $6,600 $13,700 

$12,000 $4,000 $10,800 

The effects of age on earnings are generally similar for artists and all professional workers, but if earnings of women are
 

isolated, it can be seen that median earnings of all female professionals continue
 

to rise with age all the way into the
 

55-64 age group while median earnings of
 

female artists tend to decline after 34.
 

In all age groups, earnings of women artists and other women professional continue to be considerably lower than
 

earnings of men. These data also confirm
 

athat in all age groups both male and female artists earn less than all professional workers at equivalent ages.
 

Females
 

$3,500
 

...*
 

$1,700
 

$5,600
 

$9,600
 

$4,000
 

33
 
Table 30 Median earnings

in artists’ occupations

by education and sex 1970 

Occupation 

Less than 

four years 

high school 

Males Females 

Four years 

high school 

Males Females 

Architects $ 9,000 ...* $13,400 $6,300 

Dancers ...* $2,000 $ 9,000 $5,000 

Musicians/composers $ 6,000 $1,600 $ 7,600 $1,800 

Photographers $ 9,200 $3,700 $ 9,500 $4,500 

Teachers of art, drama, 

and music (higher education) 

$ 7,800 ...* $10,200 $6,200 

All artists $ 8,900 $3,400 $10,100 $3,800 

*Denotes too few cases for reliable estimates. 

Cases included in median earnings for "All artists." 

34 
Education
 

Education correlates positively with artist earnings. As educational attainment
 

rises, earnings increase. The artist population has a relatively high level of
 

education. In 1970, 89 percent of artists
 

aged 25-64 had completed high school and
 

38 percent had four years or more of college.
 

Median earnings of Male artists ages 25-64
 

with at least four years of college were
 

$12,000 in 1970 (see Table 30). Male artists in the same age group earned $i0,000
 

if they had only a high school education,
 

and $8,900 if high school had not been
 

completed.
 

Among female artists, education is also
 

important and has its greatest effect on
 

earnings for the college-educated. Although female artists with a college eduOne-three years Four or more
 

college years college
 

Males Females Males
 

$12,700  ̄ .  ̄ * $13,800
 

 ̄ ..* $3,000 $ 5,500
 

$ 8,000 $1,700 $ 8,800
 

$ 9,200 $2,800 $ 9,500
 

$ 9,300 $3,300 $ii,000
 

$10,400 $3,900 $12,000
 

cation had median earnings of only $5,200
 

in 1970, this represents a 37 percent increase in earnings over the same age group
 

of women artists with only a high school
 

education. In comparison, median earnings
 

of college-educated male artists rose only
 

19 percent above those with a high school
 

education.
 

On all educational levels, artists’ earnings in 1970 were lower than earnings of
 

all professional workers. These differences were greater among women than men.
 

Educational attainment is greater in some
 

artist occupations than it is in others.
 

In 1970 the highest educated artist occupation was teachers of art, drama and
 

music in higher education--95 percent of
 

who had attended college. This was followed by architects (86 percent) and
 

authors (78 percent). The occupations
 

with the lowest educational levels in 1970
 

Females
 

$8,500
 

...*
 

$i,800
 

$5,000
 

$6,800
 

$5,200
 

35
 
Table 31 Proportion of

artists age 25-64

with some college

education by

occupation 1970 

Actors 62% 

Authors 78% 

Designers 62% 

Painters/sculptors 60% 

Radio-TV announcers 63% 

Other artists not else­ 55% 

where classified 

were dancers and photographers. Only 22
 

percent of dancers and 36 percent of
 

photographers had attended college (see
 

Table 31).
 

These educational differences correlate
 

positively with the earnings achieved in
 

each occupation. In particular, architects and authors have high earnings,
 

while earnings of dancers and photographers are relatively low.
 

Race
 

As previously described, median earnings
 

for all artists did not change from 1970
 

to 1976. For black artists during this
 

six-year period, median earnings actually
 

declined from $5,800 in 1970 to about
 

$4,900 in 1976 (see Table 32). As a group,
 

black artists earned about 70 percent of
 

median earnings of the white artist population in 1970. By 1976, their relative
 

earnings dropped to about 60 percent.
 

The effects of race on earnings appear to
 

be greater among artists than among all
 

professional workers. For all professionals, blacks had median earnings of $9,800
 

in 1976. This represented 85 percent of
 

the $11,500 in median earnings of white
 

professionals. For additional detail,
 

refer to National Endowment for the Arts,
 

Research Division Report #7 (see list at
 

the back of this report).
 

36
 
1976 

Table 32 Artists’ earnings

by race 1970 and 1976 

1970 Blacks Whites 

Earnings Number Cumulative Number Cumulative 

$0-1,999 17.0% 

$2,000-2,999 22.2% 

$3,000-3,999 27.5% 

$4,000-4,999 32.1% 

$5,000-5,999 37.8% 

$6,000-6,999 43.3% 

$7,000-7,999 49.2% 

$8,000-9,999 

$10,000-11,999 61.4% 

73.4% 

$12,000-14,999 

$15,000-24,999 84.3% 

95.8% 

$25,000 or more 100.0% 

Total 569,002 

Median earnings $8,200 

Blacks
 Whites
 

Earnings
 Number Cumulative Number
 Cumulative
 

$0-1,999 

$2,000-2,999 21.9% 

29.5% 

$3,000-3,999 

$4,000-4,999 33.9% 

37.6% 

$5,000-5,99~ 

$6,000-7,999 41.0% 

45.4% 

$7,000-7,999 49.0% 

$8,000-9,999 

$10,000-11,999 56.8% 

64.3% 

$12,000-14,999 75.2% 

$15,000-24,999 93.8% 

$25,000 or more 100.0% 

Total 832,131 

Median earnings 

37
 
 

Median earnings

in artists’ occupations

by region 1970 

Occupation Northeast
 

Architects $12,800
 

Dancers $ 3,900
 

Musicians/composers $ 3,600
 

Photographers $ 8,200
 

Teachers of art, drama, $10,200
 

music (higher education)
 

North Central
 

$13,200
 

$ 4,000
 

$ 2,000
 

$ 7,700
 

$ 8,500
 

South West 

$12,600 $12,700 

$ 2,300 $ 3,700 

$ 2,700 $ 3,600 

$ 7,100 $ 7,800 

$ 8,400 $10,200 

All artists $ 8,600 $ 8,200 $ 6,800 $ 7~700
 

38
 
Residence
 

Artists living in different geographic
 

regions of the country had some differences in earnings. In 1970, artists in
 

the Northeast had median earnings of
 

$8,600 compared with $8,200 in the North
 

Central region, $7,700 in the West, and
 

$6,800 in the South (see Table 33).
 

Within specific artist occupations there
 

is some variation in 1970 median earnings
 

from one region to another. The actor
 

occupation has the greatest range. In
 

1970, actors reported very low median
 

earnings (less than $3,000) in the North
 

Central region, but averaged $6,400 in the
 

West. Architects had the most uniform
 

earnings across the four regions in 1970.
 

In the metropolitan areas of New York,
 

Chicago, and Los Angeles, median earnings
 

of artists were very similar in 1970.
 

Chicago’s artists reported median earnings
 

of $9,500, New York artists $9,300, and
 

Los Angeles artists $8,500. In the individual occupations, the greatest variability in earnings was for musicians/ composers, photographers, teachers, and radio-


TV announcers. Musicians/composers earned
 

most in New York and Los Angeles, photographers earned most in Chicago, and
 

teachers earned most in Los Angeles (see
 

Table 34).
 

Table 34	 Median earnings in artists’ occupations 

in three largest Standard Metropolitan 

Statistical Areas 1970 

Occupation
 

Architects
 

Dancers
 

Musicians/composers
 

Photographers
 

Teachers of art, drama,
 

music (higher education)
 

All artists
 

New York Los Angeles Chicago 

$15,100 $13,800 $13,800 

$ 5,700 $ 4,000 $ 4,000 

$ 6,500 $ 6,500 $ 3,800 

$ 9,000 $ 7,300 $ 9,600 

$ 9,100 $11,300 $ 9,300 

$ 9,300 $ 8,500 $ 9,500 

*Denotes too few cases for reliable estimates.
 

Cases included in median earnings for "All artists."
 

39
 
Household earnings
 

Earnings of other members of artists’
 

households tend to offset the relatively
 

low personal earnings of certain artists.
 

The data show that household-level median
 

earnings tended to remain constant at
 

about $13,000 in 1970 (see Table 36) and
 

$18,000 in 1976 (see Table 37), regardless of the amount of time the artist in
 

the household worked during the year or
 

the sex of the artist (see Table 35).
 

Data in 1970 also show that artist occupational differences diminish when household-level earnings are considered (see
 

Table 38). This suggests that many artist with low personal earnings are dependent on other household earners to maintain the household income at a satisfactory level.
 

Household earnings for artists are also
 

closer to household earnings for all professional workers than was the case with
 

personal earnings. In 1976, median household earnings for artists were about
 

$17,900 compared with $20,400 in median
 

household earnings for professional workers. These data suggest that, while artists’ personal earnings are relatively
 

low, artists tend to be members of households with professional-level earnings.
 

Although artists’ personal earnings did
 

not increase significantly between 1970
 

and 1976, their total household earnings
 

rose considerably during the period, by
 

about 40 percent.
 

Table 35 Median household earnings of artists 

by sex and weeks worked 

1970 and 1976 

All 

artist 

households 

Male 

artist 

households 

Female 

artist 

households 

1970 

1976 

$12,800 

$17,900 

$12,900 

$18,200 

$12,400 

$17,500 

Artists who worked
 

40 or more weeks
 

households
 

$13,300
 

$19,000
 

40
 
 

Table 36 Artists’ heads of 

household earnings

by sex 1970 and 1976 

Male heads of Female heads of Total 

households households 

Earnings Number Cumulative Number Cumulative Number Cumulative 

$7,000-7,999 17,878 20.7% 7,799 28.2% 25,677 22.7% 

$8,000-8,999 

$9,000-9,999 

$10,000-i0,999 

$11,000-11,999 

$12,000-12,999 

$13,000-13,999 

23,877 

23,930 

30,986 

25,688 

28,777 

24,803 

26.2% 

31.7% 

38.8% 

44.7% 

51.4% 

57.1% 

8,508 

7,339 

9,037 

7,190 

9,203 

7,003 

33.8% 

38.5% 

44.4% 

49.1% 

55.1% 

59.6% 

32,385 

31,269 

40,023 

32,878 

37,980 

31,806 

28.2% 

33.5% 

40.3% 

45.9% 

52.3% 

57.8% 

Total 441,165 158,229 599,394 

41
 
 

 --- ---

Table 37 Artists’ heads of household 

earnings by sex 1976 

Male heads of Female heads of Total 

households households 

Earnings Number Cumulative Number Cumulative Number Cumulative 

$9,000-9,999 

$10,000-10,999 

$11,000-11,999 

$12,000-12,999 

$13,000-13,999 

$14,000-14,999 

$15,000-15,999 

16,773 

19,194 

22,060 

17,794 

29,110 

19,170 

41,915 

18.0% 

21.2% 

24.9% 

27.9% 

32.7% 

35.9% 

42.9% 

10,514 

13,047 

10,572 

7,233 

7,729 

8,571 

7,228 

25.5% 

30.3% 

34.2% 

36.9% 

39.7% 

42.9% 

45.6% 

27,288 

32,241 

32,632 

25,027 

36,840 

27,741 

49,143 

20.4% 

24.1% 

27.8% 

30.7% 

34.9% 

38.1% 

43.7% 

Total 619,307 --­

42
 
Architect households continued to have
 

the highest median earnings of any artist
 

occupation, and dancer households remained
 

at the low end of the earnings scale.
 

The low household-level earnings of dancers may be attributed to the high proportion of dancers who are female heads
 

of household. Selected Characteristics
 

of Artists: 1970, National Endowment for
 

the Arts, Research Division Report #10
 

examines this subject in detail (see
 

list at the back of this report).
 

Role of the artist as a household provider
 

Like other workers in the United States,
 

artists help provide for the economic
 

needs of their families. Many artists
 

are heads of families and chief income
 

recipients in their families. Census and
 

SIE data are used here to examine the relationship of artists’ earnings to their
 

household and family earnings.
 

Contribution to household earnings
 

The contribution by artists to household-


level earnings is an indicator of the ex-


Table 38 Median household earnings

in artists’ occupations 1970 

Actors $12,500
 

Authors "$13,700
 

Designers $13,500
 

Painters/sculptors $12,400
 

Radio-TV announcers $12,000
 

Other artists not else­ $12,500
 

where classified
 

43
 
Table 39	 Artists’ personal earnings as a 

proportion of median household 

earnings by sex and weeks worked 

1970 and 1976 

Male Worked 40 or more 

weeks 

1970 71% 

1976 57% 

tent of financial dependence of artists 

on other household earners. This was 

examined by calculating the proportion of 

median household earnings that are accounted for by median personal earnings 

of artists. In 1970, artists’ median 

personal earnings accounted for well over 

half (62 ~ercent) of their median household earnlngs, but by 1976 their contribution dropped to below half (about 44 

percent). Artists who worked 40 or more 

weeks during the year contributed a greater share to household earnings--71 percent 

in 1970 and about 57 percent in 1976 (see-­

Table 39). 

Female artists were considerably more 

dependent on earnings of other household 

members than were male artists. In 1970 

and 1976, their median earnings accounted 

for only about one-fourth of their median 

household income. 

The extent of artists’ contributions to 

household earnings varied by occupation 

in 1970. As might be expected, artists 

in the highest-earning occupations (architects; designers; teachers of art, drama, 

and music in higher education; and authors) 

contributed most to their household incomes, while artists in the lowest-earning 

occupations (musicians and dancers) contributed least. As shown in Figure V, 

artists in high-earning occupations provided about three-fourths of their household earnings, while in low-earning occupations artists were able to provide less 

than half, making them more dependent on 

other household earners. 

44
 
Figure V Median personal earnings as a proportion of median

household earnings in artists’ occupations 1970 

Architects 82%
 

Designers 75%
 

Teachers of art, drama
 

and music (higher 66%
 

education)
 

Photographers 66%
 

Authors 65%
 

Radio-TV announcers 59%
 

Painters/sculptors 56%
 

Actors
 47%
 

Dancers 41%
 

Musicians/composer 27%
 

45
 
 

Table 40	 Chief household income recipients

in artists’ occupations

by weeks worked 1969 

Worked in 1969
 

Occupation	 Number of Percent of
 

chief income total in
 

recipients households
 

Architects	 52,636 93%
 

Dancers	 4,038 61%
 

Musicians/composers 53,363 56%
 

Photographers	 52,069 79%
 

Teachers of art, drama, 24,354 80%
 

and music (higher education)
 

All artists	 445,091 74%
 

46
 

Worked 40 or more
 

weeks in 1969
 

Number of Percent of
 

chief income total in
 

recipients households
 

49,403 95%
 

2,371 68%
 

37,305 64%
 

47,171 83%
 

19,125 85%
 

383,482 80%
 
Chief income recipients in households
 

The 1970 Census asked persons whether
 

they were the family member with the
 

largest income. Nearly three-fourths of
 

artists, including those not living in
 

families, said they were the chief income
 

recipient (see Table 40). Artists who
 

worked less than 40 weeks during the year
 

have income-producing responsibilities to
 

their households, with exactly half being
 

the chief income recipient.
 

The proportion of artists who were chief
 

income recipients in their households
 

varied by artist occupation. As might be
 

expected, artists in the highest-earning
 

occupations (architects; designers; and
 

teachers of art, drama, and music in higher education) were most likely to be chief
 

income recipients for their households,
 

while artists in the low-earning occupations (musicians and dancers) were least
 

likely to be chief income recipients.
 

Nevertheless, even in the dancer occupation, 61 percent were chief income recipients.
 

Worked less than
 

40 weeks in 1969
 

Number of Percent of
 

chief income total in
 

recipients households
 

3,233 68%
 

1,667 54%
 

16,058 44%
 

4,898 54%
 

5,229 64%
 

61,609 50%
 

47 
Table 41	 Chief family income recipients 

in artists’ occupations 

by weeks worked 1969 

Worked in 1969	 Worked 40 or more weeks
 

in 1969
 

Occupation	 Number of Percent of Number of Percent of
 

chief income total in chief income total in
 

recipients households recipients households
 

92%	 43,963 95%
 Architects	 45,992
 

40%	 1,202 51%
 Dancers	 1,702
 

Musicians/composers 32,571 44%	 25,767 57%
 

Photographers 42,994 75%	 40,532 80%
 

73%	 14,018 81%
 Teachers of art, 16,917
 

drama, and music
 

(higher education)
 

334,476 68%	 305,740 77%
 All artists
 

48
 
Artists who lived with family members were
 

less likely to be chief income recipients
 

in 1970 than the general group of artists
 

in all types of living arrangements (see
 

Table 41). In particular, family living
 

arrangements allowed artists who worked
 

less than 40 weeks during the year to be
 

more dependent on other family members.
 

Among artists living in families and working less than 40 weeks, only one-third
 

were chief income recipients. This compares with half who were chief income
 

recipients among all artists working less
 

than 40 weeks.
 

Worked less than 40 weeks
 

in 1969
 

Number of Percent of
 

chief income total in
 

recipients households
 

1,935
 

2,029 57%
 

1,237 15% .... ....
 

500 26%
 

2, s00 .....
 

6,804 25%
 

4,099 26
 

2,462 37%
 

2,899 49% 

3,302
 

28,736 32%
 

49 
 

Artists as family heads
 

In the 1970 Census, the head of household
 

for husband-wife families is always considered to be the husband for purposes
 

of simplifying data tabulations. Therefore, these data cover only male artists.
 

They are useful for comparative purposes
 

with all professional workers. Among
 

husband-wife families which had an artist
 

as their head, 1970 median earnings were
 

generally lower than median earnings among
 

husband-wife families with all types of
 

professional workers as their head (see
 

Table 42). Architects and authors were


an exception; their families generally
 

had higher earnings than families of all
 

professional workers. (The Bureau of the
 

Census is planning to gradually eliminate
 

the concept of household "head" in data
 

Table 42	 Median earnings in artists’occupations 

of husband-wife families with artist as head 

by size of family and number of earners 1970 

Two-person families Three/four-person families 

Occupation of family head One earner Two earners One earner Two or more 

earners 

Architects $16,900 $15,500 $14,900 $17,400 

Dancers ...* -. .* ---* ---* 

Musicians/composers $ 8,700 $ 9,700 $10,500 $11,200 

Photographers $10,200 $12,600 $11,000 $13,300 

Teachers of art, drama, $13,500 $14,100 $11,900 $15,900 

music (higher education) 

$13,500 $13,900 $12,700 $14,900
 All professional,
 

technical, and kindred
 

workers
 

*Denotes too few fases for reliable estimates.
 

Cases included in median earnings for "All artists."
 
enumeration and tabulation.)
 

Family size seemed to make little difference in total family income. Family
 

incomes increased only slightly as family
 

size increased. These trends existed for
 

both artists and for all professional
 

workers who were family heads.
 

Families with more than one earner generally had higher incomes than families
 

with single earners. However, their incomes averaged only about $1,500 more in
 

1970 than incomes of single-earner families. In two-person families of architects, actors, authors, and radio-TV
 

announcers, incomes averaged higher in
 

families where only the household head
 

was an earner than in families where both
 

husband and wife worked.
 

Five-or-more person families
 

One earner	 Two or more
 

earners
 

,
 

$16,500	 $19,600
 

ooo~	 ooo* 

,~,soo ......
  ̄ ~i .......... ........
 i
 

$10,200	 $13,300


 13,ooo ....
 

$12,200	 $12,800
 .... .............. ................
 

~12,6oo
 

$14,100	 $16,300
 

$14,000	 $16,800
 

51
 
Table 43	 Husband-wife families in artists’ occupations 

with artist as head and two or more earners 

1970 

Occupation of family head Total 

husband-wife 

Families with two 

or more earners 

families 

Number Percent 

Architects 46,412 20,309 44% 

Dancers 463 198 43% 

Musicians/composers 33,009 19,874 60% 

Photographers 44,543 24,928 56% 

Teachers of art, drama, music 16,112 10,312 64% 

(higher education) 

All artists 323,284 171,605 53% 

52
 
 

Table 44	 1969 poverty status in artists’
 

occupations of husband-wife families
 

with artist as head 1970
 

Occupation of family head Income below poverty level
 

Number of Percent
 

families
 

Architects
 1,235 2.7%
 

Dancers
 

Musicians/composers	 2,495 7.6%
 

Photographers
 i, 333 3.0%
 

Teachers of art, drama,
 596 3.7%
 music (higher education)
 

All artists
 10,666 3.3%
 

All workers
 2,251,252 5.5%
 

*Denotes too few cases for reliable estimates.
 

Among all husband-wife families which had
 income. In 1970, the average poverty
 an artist as their head, about half of the
 threshold for a nonfarm family of four
 families had more than one earner (see Ta- headed by a male was about $3,750.
 ble 43). This was slightly lower than the
 

average for all families with a profession- The 1970 Census data show that very few
 

al worker at their head. The proportion of artist families had incomes below the
 

families which had more than one earner poverty level. Among husband-wife families
 

varied little by artist occupation.	 with an artist as the head, only 3.3 percent had incomes below the poverty level
 

(see Table 44). This figure ranged from
 Poverty status in artist families
 1.6 percent for designers to 7.6 percent
 

for musicians and composers. Artist fami-
 Data on poverty status were developed
 lies were more likely to be in poverty
 using the Census Bureau’s coding of pov- status than families of all professional
 erty-level family income. This defini­ workers, but artist families were less
 tion takes account of such factors as
 likely to be in poverty status than fami­ family size, number of children, and farm
 lies of the general population of United
 and nonfarm residence, as well as money
 States workers.
 

53
 
REPORTS IN THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE
 

ARTS RESEARCH DIVISION SERIES
 

Since 1976 the Research Division of the
 

National Endowment for the Arts has been
 

studying matters of~interest to the arts
 

community and issuing reports based on
 

its findings. Copies of the reports
 

may be ordered from the Publishing Center
 

for Cultural Resources, 625 Broadway,
 

New York City 10012 at the prices noted
 

below.
 

#i Employment and Unemployment of Artists:
 

1970-1975. 32 pages. April 1976. $2.50
 

#2 To Survey American Crafts: A Planning
 

Study. 32 pages. July 1977. $2.50
 

#3 Understanding the Employment of Actors.
 

36 pages. September 1977. $2.00
 

#4 Arts and Cultural Programs on Radio
 

and Television. 92 pages. September 1977.
 

$3.50
 

#5 Where Artists Live: 1970. 80 pages.
 

October 1977. $3.00
 

#6 Economic Impact of Arts and Cultural
 

Institutions: A Model for Assessment and
 

a Case Study in Baltimore. 96 pages.
 

November 1977. $3.50
 

#7 Minorities and Women in the Arts: 1970.
 

32 pages. January 1978. $2.50
 

#8 The State Arts Agencies in 1974: All
 

Present and Accounted For. 160 pages.
 

April 1978. $4.50
 

#9 Audience Studies of the Performing
 

Arts and Museums: A Critical Review.
 

106 pages. November 1978. $3.00
 

#i0 Self-Employment, Migration, and
 

Household and Family Characteristics of
 

Artists: 1970. 32 pages. November 1978.
 

$2.00
 

#ii Conditions and Needs of the Professional American Theatre. 120 pages.
 

January 1980. ISBN 0-89062-076-8 $4.50
 

#12 Artists Compared by Age, Sex and
 

Earnings in 1970 and 1976. 54 paqes.
 

January 1980. ISBN 0-89062-077-6 $2.50
 

Checks should be made payable to "Pub­

. lishing Center." Prices include postage
 

and handling; no state or local sales
 

tax is applic’able.
 

54 
Produced and distributed by Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 625 Broadway, New York City 10012. Price (incl. postage): $2.50