UK PR industry worth £7.5 Billion
July 15th, 2011 by Lloyd Gofton
Earlier this week, PR Week released the findings of a research project that it carried out in partnership with the PRCA, and research company Harris Interactive, which showed that the PR industry is worth £7.5 Billion to the UK economy.
PR Week confirmed that this research, titled ‘The PR Census’, was: “the biggest ever research project into the UK PR industry, involved an online survey, which generated more than 1,300 responses, and desk research using Government, ONS, PR Week and PRCA data.”
PR Week also helped to put the figures into perspective by confirming the gambling industry contributes £6bn to the economy with over 100,000 employees, (i’ll leave you to make your own jokes about that comparison) where as the PR industry achieves its figure with 61,600. You could argue that in these times of high levels of unemployment, that the more people employed the better, but PR Week see more money from less people as a positive, which it is from a business perspective.
The survey also includes a demographic breakdown on the PR industry, which shows two thirds of PRs are female, 43% are between 25-34, and 84% are from white-British backgrounds.
The salary survey shows in-house PRs are still better paid, although the margins are closing at the senior level. However, apparently an account manager will be paid £8,000 more on average in-house.
You can read more about the PR Week article here or download the full research, although it will cost you £200 if you’re not a PRCA member or PR Week subscriber, in which case it will be £150.
I have also included a few of the graphical representations from the research below:
