Creativity – Occupational Definition

One approach to defining the creative economy is to examine creative occupations. In many cases, when attempting to measure the economic output of the creative economy, a look at occupations is combined with an examination of creative industries. Sixteen reports examined in a study by the Creative Economy Coalition took this approach¹ and one additional report examined occupation independently of any industry analysis.²

Describing creativity through a set of occupations is also the path taken by Richard Florida in his popular but controversial book The Rise of the Creative Class (2002). In Creative Class occupations, workers are paid to use their minds, in contrast to the Working and Service Classes in which workers are paid to do routine, physical work.³

Florida’s nine Creative Class occupational sectors are science, computer and math, arts and media, architecture and engineering, business and finance, law, education, management, and healthcare.⁴ These sectors are very diverse. They share the mind-focused nature of their work but not a connection to art, culture, design, or innovation.