The number of employees for the entire culture and communications industry fell by approximately 16% between 2018 and 2023 in Quebec. Unsurprisingly, it is the print media sector that has lost the most workers in recent years. Performance venues, which were paralyzed during the pandemic, are also feeling the pinch. The audiovisual sector, for its part, has seen growth in its workforce thanks to the explosion in the number of filmings, but we are now seeing a certain decline in this area as well.
This is the portrait drawn from the most recent data updated Tuesday by the Institut de la statistique du Québec. The most recent figures, which date from last May, estimate the number of employees in the newspaper and book publishing sector at 4,700, a decrease of 36% compared to the same period in 2018. As of May 2024, television and radio stations employed just over 7,000 people, or 15% fewer than five years ago.
These figures do not surprise Annick Charette, president of the Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture (FNCC-CSN), the main union in the sector, which has recorded several job cuts in the media in recent years. “This clearly illustrates what we have been saying since the beginning of the year, namely that losses in the media are significant. We saw it again recently with the cuts at Bell and TVA. And it’s not over. We are still far from seeing the curve rise,” she laments.
The cause: the loss of advertising revenue for large media groups, which is resulting in a series of cuts. The written press was the first sector affected. In recent months, it was mainly television where job losses were most noticeable. Radio could also bear the brunt of the exodus of advertisers soon, while we observe that advertising sales have been down since the pandemic.
Added to this reality is the technological shift, which inevitably leads to restructuring, emphasizes Annick Charrette. “For example, the regional dailies of the Coops de l’info were still printed not so long ago. When they switched to 100% digital mode, some positions related to paper were eliminated. Yes, we are creating new positions to ensure digital publication, but they are not as numerous and they do not have the same value as those that were related to paper,” says the president of the FNCC-CSN.
Audiovisual, another reality
The Institut de la statistique du Québec also notes a decrease in the number of employees in the “Performing arts companies” category, which includes stage technicians and other employees of performance halls. Between May 2018 and the same month of this year, there was a decrease of nearly 30% in the number of employees: a figure that excludes freelancers. Obviously, the pandemic caused the departure of many workers from this sector, while all the performing arts were at a standstill. In 2022, the workforce began to increase again, but it has stagnated since then. The number of employees is still far from what it was before COVID-19.
This is practically the opposite of what was observed in the “Film and video industries” category, which includes film and TV production, but also distribution, dubbing, and postproduction. This field of activity is by far the one with the most workers in the cultural industry. It was slowed down only at the start of the pandemic. Subsequently, it continued to operate at an even more frenetic pace than before COVID-19. The number of Quebec productions increased significantly. Animation and visual effects studios were also particularly in demand during the same period by Hollywood. In May 2022, there were nearly 18,000 workers in the various components of the audiovisual sector, a 47% jump from four years earlier.
The strike by actors and screenwriters in Hollywood and the decline in the number of television projects in Quebec then put a brake on the sector’s growth. The film and video industries employed approximately 15,600 people last May, excluding freelancers, which remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. It remains to be seen whether the change in tax credits for animation and visual effects studios will lead to further job cuts in the coming months, as many fear.
It should be noted that in the “Heritage Establishments” category, which includes museums among others, the trend is upward, with an increase in the number of workers of 14% between 2018 and 2024.