The good news: the British music industry’s contribution to the UK’s economy in 2021 was up 26% from 2020. The bad news: it was still down 31% on its pre-pandemic peak in 2019.
These numbers were published by UK Music, the umbrella group for multiple sector-specific trade bodies in the country, in its new This Is Music 2022 report. It used the publication of the figures to call on the British government to provide greater support for the sector in order to avoid it collapsing, stressing how important it is in terms of the domestic economy as well as its export power.
The British music business – across all areas, including recorded music, music publishing and live – contributed £4 billion ($4.56 billion) to the UK economy in 2021. This was up from the £3.1 billion ($3.53 billion) generated in 2020. Both years were enormously affected by the pandemic, with restrictions applying at various stages on touring and festivals.
GLASTONBURY, UNITED KINGDOM – JUNE 26: Festival Goers watch a band whilst the sun sets on the third … [+] day of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm on June 26, 2010 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns)
Redferns
This growth, encouraging as it was, still fell drastically short of the £5.8 billion ($6.61 billion) generated in 2019 before the pandemic hit. This was an all-time high for the UK music business.
With parts of the industry being shut down entirely, over a third of workers were laid off as the pandemic hit in early 2020. That year there were 128,000 jobs across the sector. As part of the slow recovery, this figure rose to 145,000 in 2021. This, however, is still 26% down on the 197,000 jobs in the industry in 2019.
Exports in 2021 were £2.5 billion ($2.85 billion), up 10% from 2020 – but still down 15% from the £2.9 billion ($3.3 billion) reported in 2019.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music, said government support is urgently needed as the industry still faces a “major threat from strong economic headwinds”.
The report notes, “While music studios were allowed to remain open with limitations, the Government-mandated restrictions meant that live venues spent a significant amount of the year closed or operating at limited capacity. This was a major factor in the drop in the music industry’s economic contribution.”
Njoku-Goodwin added, “It’s vital that Government acts to protect and support a sector that creates jobs, contributes to the economy and matters to millions of people across our country. The new Prime Minister [Liz Truss] has said she wants to cut taxes to stimulate growth. If she is serious about this, then she should use the emergency budget to reduce the tax burden on the music industry […] This would incentivise investment and boost exports of British music, which are at risk due to increasing international competition and issues following the UK’s exit from the European Union.”
There has been a triple threat facing the British music business in recent years.
First, the country’s departure from the European Union (aka Brexit) has made it increasingly difficult and expensive for British artists to tour in mainland Europe.
An EU flag and a Union flag held by a demonstrator is seen with Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) and the … [+] Houses of Parliament as marchers taking part in an anti-Brexit, pro-European Union (EU) march enter Parliament Square in central London on March 25, 2017, ahead of the British government’s planned triggering of Article 50 next week. – Britain will launch the process of leaving the European Union on March 29, setting a historic and uncharted course to become the first country to withdraw from the bloc by March 2019. (Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
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Second, the pandemic saw whole parts of the business shuttered and mass layoffs, with skilled professionals having to retrain and seek employment elsewhere, meaning there are serious staff shortages in certain sectors, particularly live music.
Thirdly, spiraling energy costs are expected to hit businesses hard, notably small venues which have been suffering anyway and now face mounting uncertainty. The government has confirmed that the Energy Bill Relief Scheme will cap wholesale energy prices for all firms for a six-month period from 1 October.
There are also huge concerns around the cost of living crisis in the UK, where food prices, energy prices, rent costs, mortgage rates and more are rising sharply, as is the rate of inflation. People will be forced to severely cut back on their expenditure across the board, with entertainment spending expected to be particularly impacted on.
The knock-on effect here will most obviously be on the live music business, especially grassroots venues, and this is something the Music Venue Trust has been lobbying on for several years.
“We have a music industry in the UK that is the envy of the world and a talent pipeline that continues to produce global stars and an army of highly skilled professionals,” said Jamie Njoku-Goodwin. “It is vital that the Government works with us to protect and nurture the music industry from the economic turbulence we face so we can pull through and create the jobs and investment to make it even stronger than it was before the pandemic.”
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
