Recent employment trends in the cultural industries in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht: A first exploration

Cultural industries are becoming in general more important in advanced economies as sources of employment and economic growth. In this paper, a quantitative exploration is given of recent trends in cultural industries in the Netherlands. The data show a rapid rise of employment in the cultural industries in the last decade. Moreover, the four largest cities, although losing some terrain, are important sites for cultural production. Furthermore, in terms of employment Amsterdam still turns out to be the undisputed cultural capital of the Netherlands. The Dutch capital clearly has the edge in all but one of the selected cultural industries. The one notable exception is architectural services. Rotterdam, home base of many famous international architectural firms, is asserting its status as the most important place for this kind of cultural industry in the Netherlands.