Regional Employment Growth in the Cultural and Creative Industries in Germany 2003–2008

Since the end of the 1990s cultural and creative industries have generated increasing attention in academic, public and political discourse. Nowadays, these industries are seen to be important factors of regional development. Because an urban environment offers a special quality of place, which is stimulating, motivating, challenging and inspiring for creative people, cultural and creative industries are spatially highly concentrated in the major cities of each country. Furthermore, urban places have an advantage compared to more peripheral or rural regions by offering the creative talents particular surroundings with openness, diversity, tolerance and internationality to realise their individual life styles. Overall, it can be assumed, that the cultural and creative industries fulfil their role as engines of innovation, growth and increasing employment rates predominantly in major cities. The empirical analysis of regional employment shifts in the cultural and creative industries in Germany shows that the main hubs of the cultural and creative industries in Germany generated above-average growth rates between 2003 and 2008. The more rural regions declined in most cases against the overall employment growth of the cultural and creative industries in Germany by 5.0%. Hence, the peripheral regions afar from the urban cores could not benefit from the growth of cultural and creative industries. Furthermore, a shift analysis shows the importance of locational effects in explaining the regional employment dynamics in these industries.