Employment in 2023
The starting point for quantifying the total number of workers involved in audiovisual activities is the data on domestic employment of the so-called audiovisual core perimeter, consisting of the five ATECO 2007 classes:
- 59.11 – Theatrical, video & TV production activities;
- 59.12 – Theatrical, video & TV post-production activities;
- 59.13 – Theatrical, video & TV distribution activities;
- 59.14 – Exhibition activities;
- 60.20 – TV programming & broadcasting activities
These data are expressed in terms of AUW, annual work units3, following the conventions adopted within the national statistics. This means that a work unit comprises theoretical employees and self-employed workers (divided into self-employed workers and entrepreneurs), who, for example, work for six months a year, thus identifying a single work unit.
To obtain the number of actual workers, quantified as “headcounts,” the dependent and independent units must be transformed into a number of full-time workers, adding other units to this count that belong to categories not accounted for, such as managing directors.
Specifically, the calculation process requires a breakdown and integration of the employed units following a different path depending on the categories involved.
3 The measurement unit of the work volume performed in job positions is calculated by reducing the unit value of part-time jobs, those of on-call workers and temporary workers in full-time equivalents. Basically, the assessment is based on a “theoretical” AWU (Annual Work Unit).
In 2023, the overall direct employment in the audiovisual system (consistent with the Istat National Accounting data) recorded a +0.9% growth compared to 2022 (revised upwards considering the changes in the Istat national data, an aspect that diminishes the positive Interseasonal), a value that can be compared to the total Italian economy figure: +1.8%.
Employed workers in the audiovisual system in the two-year period 2022-2023
Starting out from the employee count within the core perimeter, it is possible to trace the data back to headcounts (considering, for example, the presence of part-time or short-time work contracts) by going through the Istat coefficients for ATECO (referring to the overall employee collective), and taking into account the work-unit/job-position ratio4.
4 In the national account’s schemes, job positions represent the number of jobs, given by the sum of the first job positions and multiple job positions, regardless of the number of hours worked.
Regarding employees, the overall aggregate reaches 44,872 work units, which is evaluated in terms of headcounts.
Another 4,077 employee units should be added, traced back to headcounts, based on Istat data (work unit/job position ratio) operating in companies not directly belonging to the perimeter of economic activities but contracted as ex-ENPALS and classified from an employment point of view as workers within the five economic classes of the core perimeter.
Among independent workers, there are self-employed workers with a high number of headcounts, mainly in specific professions (actors, for example), which imply limited employment time during the year and are therefore discontinuous and even sporadic.
In this case, one AUW (annual work unit) corresponds to many workers, and this data can be provided by the social security institution INPS, formerly Enpals (Osservatorio Gestione Lavoratori dello spettacolo e sportivi professionisti), which integrates self-employed workers with additional units and allows us to retrieve the average number of paid days over the year for each ATECO code and profession, and therefore define the headcount. For 2022, there was a further growth of such units, reaching a value of 53,818 self-employed workers expressed in headcount.
According to the figures above, 2,788 businessmen and 14,541 managing directors (non-businessmen who are already included among the independent workers) are counted only once since their positions can be multiple; both groups are reported in the Chamber of Commerce registers and operate within the selected ATECO codes.
This completes the 2023 picture of 120,095 individuals involved in the overall audiovisual system, a figure that translates into a positive Interseasonal compared to 2022.
120,095 individuals involved in the audiovisual business
Breakdown of job positions in view of computing the overall audiovisual employment in terms of head counts for the years 2022 and 2023
| Position | Description | 2022 | 2023 | ||
| AUW | Head counts | AUW | Head counts | ||
| Employed | Employees of companies within the audiovisual core perimeter. Data is computed as head counts on Istat data (working unit/job position ratio). | 37,841 | 43,608 | 38,937 | 44.872 |
| Self-employed workers | Self-employed workers computed as single individuals on former Enpal/Inps data (Osservatorio Gestione Lavoratori dello Spettacolo e Sportivi Professionisti) according to paid days/year, integrated with self-employed workers count retrieved by former Enpal data. | 9,339 | 51,387 | 9,780 | 53,818 |
| Entrepreneurs | Data computed on the Business Register within the audiovisual core perimeter (Infocamere) | 2,804 | 2,804 | – | 2,788 |
| Managing Directors | Data computed on the Business Register with specific reference to head counts and not positions within the audiovisual core perimeter (Infocamere) | – | 14,489 | – | 14,541 |
| Former Enpal employees outside the core perimeter | Employees of companies not belonging to the audiovisual core perimeter but under former Enpal contracts and classified as workers within the five economic classes of Ateco. Data computed on head counts on Istat data (working unit/job positions rapport) | 3,288 | 3,789 | 3,538 | 4,077 |
| TOTAL | 116,077 | 120,095 |
The comparison of these data with 2022 (partly revised by the Istat National Accounting framework) returns an overall dynamism of +3.5%. Apart from a slightly negative Interseasonal count of entrepreneurs, the 2022/2023 variation returns a positive picture for all items considered.
Leaving aside the rather limited component of ex-Enpals employees outside the perimeter (which grew by +7.6%), self-employment recorded the highest Interseasonal variation with +4.7%, followed by employees (+2.9%) and administrators (+0.4%).
Interseasonal % of individuals working in the audiovisual system in the two-year period 2022-2023
