Look Beyond Los Angeles and Berlin for Creative Talent

• The growth in demand for creative talent has outpaced that of other roles in the past three years.

• It has become exceedingly hard for employers to fill creative talent roles.

• There are new and growing hotspots around the globe where employers can find creative talent. Dhaka, Lahore, and Istanbul are among the fastest-growing creative talent hotspots.

They are the lifeblood of the digital economy, bringing aesthetics, entertainment value or product usability to the world. We are talking about creative talent like Graphic Designers, Musicians, Photographers, Actors, and Animators. Roughly 23 million people are in creative roles globally, and the pool of talent is growing. But classic hubs like Los Angeles or Berlin are no longer the only places that attract creative talent. This week, Revelio Labs is looking into the fastest-growing global creative talent hotspots where employers can find fresh talent.

We see that the increase in demand for creative talent has outpaced demand for other roles and peaked in July of last year. Job postings for creative roles around the world were three times as high in July of 2022 as they were in January of 2019. Demand has since dropped, but it remains elevated.

With demand increasing so steeply, it has been increasingly difficult to fill these roles. The average time to fill a creative role is now at 80 days, compared to 60 days for other roles.

Employers may not be looking for their creative talent in the right places. Many creative roles are digital in nature today and can be done remotely. Perhaps employers need to expand where and how they search for creative talent. We wanted to know, where are the big creative talent hubs these days? Here is the list of top creative talent hotspots globally, as measured by the share of the workforce composition in creative roles.

Naturally, renowned film, music, and fashion capitals, like LA, New York, and Berlin appear on this list given their workforce composition. But there are also less expected cities. Did you know that Dhaka, Bangladesh is a creative talent hotspot these days, with close to 8% of jobs in the creative industry?

The picture becomes even more interesting when we consider recent changes. The fastest-growing talent hotspots are in South and Southeast Asia: Dhaka, Lahore, or Jakarta. We also want to give an honorable mention to Istanbul, home to many economists on the Revelio Labs Team! These vibrant and diverse metropolises are the new Paris, Berlin, and New York City for creative talent.