Creative economy in China

The results from this analysis clearly demonstrate the rapid expansion of the creative economy and the creative class in urban China. Employed in the knowledge-intensive and innovation-intensive industries, these workers now make up 29 percent of all urban private workforces. This figure closely resembles the comparable statistics obtained in the U.S. and other OECD countries. In terms of earnings, the wage rate of the creative sector is not only higher than other works in all years, but also grows at a faster rate. In 2008, the average wage rate of the creative sector is 1.45 times of the average working sector wage and 1.37 times of the average service sector wage. The rise of the creative economy coupled with their higher wage rate would mean that they will make increasingly important contributions to total earned income in the urban economy.

That is from the paper "Creativity and Inequality: The Dual Path of China’s Urban Economy?" by Liu and Xie (May 2012).

What is included in the creative economy? In the most recent period:

• Financial Intermediation.
• Real Estate Leasing and Business Services Education.
• Culture, Sports and Entertainment, Scientific Research, Technical Services, and Geological Prospecting Information Transmission, Computer Service and Software.