On the other hand, targeted surveys of the artist population can address the specific problems of multiple job-holding or income sources that are frequently the case for artists. While these surveys provide unique and detailed views of specific artist occupations, they lack comparability to other occupations, and do not provide national level estimates. Artists in the Work Force takes these factors into consideration when drawing general conclusions. In the last two decades, there was been a tremendous upsurge in the number of artists in the workforce, an increase of 127 percent in the past 20 years. Earnings from the arts, however, continue to remain lower than those from other professions, and many artists need to work more than one job to remain above the poverty level.
Women have it harder, earning less than men in almost every artistic field.