The economics of being an artist

Some artists are uber-rich; most are not. Indeed, a study of the economic (mis)fortunes of artists in the EU and UK by Ioannis Laliotis and Christos Makridis shows exactly how poor they are compared to similarly qualified professionals and the workforce in general.

The chart below shows the difference in annual income between artists and similar workers or professionals in their country. Similar in this respect means similar in age, education and of the same gender. In the UK, for example, artists typically earn about 5% less than a similar worker. However, they tend to earn a little bit more than the average professional of similar age and qualification. That is a rare exception to the rule that artists typically make less money than their peers, no matter whether you compare them to workers in general or white-collar professionals.

Artist wages by country

The driver behind this wage difference is that artists generally don’t have steady employment. They usually have temp contracts and have to jump from one gig to the next. Even when they have a steady job, such as an arts educator, these jobs pay less, and it is harder for artists to find another, better-paid job to switch to if they are unhappy.

And the precariousness of their employment materialises in bigger losses of income when the economy takes a turn for the worse. The second chart shows the wage differential over time. When the inflation spike of 2022 pushed the European economy into recession in 2023, many artists lost commissions or couldn’t get new commissions, and their income dropped more than that of the average worker.

Artist wages over time