Creative Class

In Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class, the creative class is defined and measured by what its members do, as opposed to what they are. Considered broadly, the creative class comprises of everyone who is paid for their knowledge and ideas. More specifically, creative class occupations include science, engineering, and technology; business and management; health care; law and education; and arts, culture, design, entertainment, and media. In the United States, the creative class numbers slightly more than 40 million workers, or a third of the workforce. Class has become something of a dirty word for social scientists, who routinely turn out papers and books heralding the “end of” class and the advent of a “classless society.” However, it is an indispensable construct when trying to understand the sociology of work.

In the 1960s, Fritz Malchup noted the emergence of the “knowledge economy,” while Peter Drucker focused on the characteristics of knowledge workers. In the 1990s, one of the leading students of class, sociologist Erik Olin Wright, charted the rise of what he called the “professional managerial class,” while Robert Reich identified the increasingly critical role of “symbolic analysts”—those members of the workforce who manipulate symbols and ideas. Karl Marx believed that it was the capacity for physical work that bound people together in a universal working class, but it is really the capacity for creativity. The cornerstone of creative class theory is that every single human being is potentially creative. Creativity annihilates the categories of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, country of origin, and religion that people have imposed on themselves; ultimately, it brings all people together.

The creative class grew from just 10 percent of all employment in 1870 to 15 percent in 1950 and over 30 percent today. Its members earn more than half of all wages, amounting to nearly $3 trillion annually. During those same years, the percentage of Americans who worked on farms dropped to the low single digits; the percentage of blue-collar workers fell by more than half. Members of the creative class average a wage of $70,714, about $33,723 more than industrial workers ($36,991) and $41,526 more than service workers ($29,188). Though they are exceptionally well compensated, research shows that creative class workers are more influenced by intrinsic rewards (the satisfactions that come from the work) than by extrinsic rewards like money.

Among the key factors that influence their job satisfaction, according to surveys, are engaging in challenging work, working with interesting colleagues, and having a measure of autonomy. The United States ranks 27th in percentage of creative class workers according to cross-national studies. The highest percentages are found in Singapore (47 percent), the Netherlands (46 percent), Switzerland (44 percent), Australia (44 percent), and Sweden (43 percent).

In the United States, the creative class is concentrated much more in certain cities and metro areas than in others. The leading metros have more than 40 percent of their workforce in the creative class, while the lowest ranking have less than 20 percent. Los Alamos County, New Mexico, has a creative class share of 63.1 percent, and Arlington County, Virginia, has 60 percent. Other leading creative class regions are Durham, North Carolina (48.4 percent); San Jose, California (46.9 percent); Washington, D.C. (46.8 percent); Ithaca, New York (44.6 percent); and Boulder, Colorado (44.4 percent).

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