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53-411: Florida describes the creative class as comprising 40 million workers (about 30 percent of the U.S. workforce). He breaks the class into two broad sections, derived from Standard Occupational Classification System codes: In addition to these two main groups of creative people, the usually much smaller group of Bohemians is also included in the creative class. In his 2002 study, Florida concluded that

106-666: A change in Florida's prognosis for America's ailing Rust Belt cities. Florida's message was so quickly and enthusiastically adopted by cities because he argued that any city had the potential to become a vibrant, creative city with the right infrastructure investments, policies, and consulting advice. A 2009 article, "The Ruse of the Creative Class", questions Florida's costly speaking engagements in struggling industrial cities in which he offered optimistic prognoses—and his more recent pronouncements that many American cities may never be saved in

159-738: A job title does not match one-for-one with an occupation. For example, the job title "painter" is not in the DMTF because it could be associated with a fine arts occupation or a maintenance occupation. In these and other cases, persons wishing to match a job with an occupation can examine the definitions of the detailed occupations. For example, the definition of the occupation of Painters, Construction and Maintenance (SOC code of 47-2141) is: "Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency." On

212-782: A major shift away from traditional agriculture- or industry-based economies or a general restructuring into more complex economic hierarchies. The theses developed by Florida in various publications were drawn from, among other sources, U.S. Census Bureau demographic data, focusing first on economic trends and shifts apparent in major U.S. cities, with later work expanding the focus internationally. A number of specific cities and regions (including California 's Silicon Valley , Washington, DC , Baltimore , Boston 's Route 128 , The Triangle in North Carolina, Austin , Seattle , Bangalore , Dublin and Sweden ) have come to be identified with these economic trends . In Florida's publications,

265-509: A new plant. An occupation is defined as a group of "jobs that are similar with respect to the work performed and the skills possessed by workers." Therefore, different jobs with similar duties and job requirements would be in the same occupation. For example, a bank branch manager and a city treasurer would both be part of the Financial Manager occupation in the SOC. The detailed occupations in

318-506: A newsletter and other materials, and works to engage the media and public in critical discussion. In June 2009, Creative Class Struggle and art magazine Fuse organized a public forum in Toronto to debate these issues. Comprehensive Employment and Training Act Standard Occupational Classification System The Standard Occupational Classification ( SOC ) System is a United States government system for classifying occupations . It

371-423: A pace that varies, and 8.2 percent at a consistent and generally slow pace. About 56.2 percent of workers have the ability to “pause work and take short, unscheduled breaks throughout the workday.” Pace of work and the ability to pause work for each major group are in the following table. The SOC was established in 1977, and revised by a committee representing specialists from across U.S. government agencies in

424-466: A passage in Ralph Waldo Emerson 's essay "Power" in his collection The Conduct of Life (1860). Florida says that the creative class is a class of workers whose job is to create meaningful new forms (2002). It is composed of scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and architects, and also includes "people in design, education, arts, music and entertainment, whose economic function

477-400: Is a broad-based measure for advanced economic growth and sustainable prosperity based on the 3Ts of economic development - talent, technology, and tolerance. It rates and ranks 139 nations worldwide on each of these dimensions and on our overall measure of creativity and prosperity" (Florida et al., 2015). The GCI takes into account the diversity of geographical locations noting their openness as

530-430: Is also highly regarded among the creative class and expected in the workplace (Florida, 2002). The Creative Class is not a class of workers among many, but a group believed to bring economic growth to countries that can attract its members. The economic benefits conferred by the Creative Class include outcomes in new ideas, high-tech industry and regional growth. Even though the Creative Class has been around for centuries,

583-461: Is also widely used in France. The thesis is that during the late 1970s a new establishment arose that represented a fusion between the bourgeois world of capitalist enterprise and the hippie values of the bohemian counterculture. He refers to these individuals as bobos , a portmanteau for "bourgeois bohemians". Bobos are noted for their aversion to conspicuous consumption while emphasizing

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636-484: Is an abbreviated form of the words bourgeois and bohemian , suggesting a fusion of two distinct social classes (the counter-cultural , hedonistic and artistic bohemian, and the white collar , capitalist bourgeois). The term is used by Brooks to describe the 1990s successors of the yuppies . Often of the corporate upper class , they claim highly tolerant views of others, purchase expensive and exotic items, and believe American society to be meritocratic . The term

689-558: Is available is more due to the attraction of leisure life and community rather than actual work. Although the Creative Class works towards the globalization of progressive and innovative ideas and products, they can also be considered to value local community and local autonomy. Sociologists and urban theorists have noted a gradual and broad shift of values over the past decade. Creative workers are looking for cultural, social, and technological climates in which they feel they can best "be themselves". "The main assumption underlying this approach

742-408: Is becoming a " Creational Society ". The diverse and individualistic lifestyles enjoyed by the Creative Class involve active participation in a variety of experiential activities. Florida (2002) uses the term "Street Level Culture" to define this kind of stimulation. Street Level Culture may include a "teeming blend of cafes, sidewalk musicians, and small galleries and bistros, where it is hard to draw

795-421: Is experienced when the significance of scientifically/technologically and artistically creative workers is taken into account, but this macro-level conclusion can be drawn without Florida's creative class theory, which provides more of an "affirmation of contemporary class relations." Other scholars have criticized the very basis for Florida's definition of " creativity " which many argue is conceived of narrowly and

848-539: Is only valued for the potential for financial and economic growth . Studies have too questioned Florida's argument that jobs and economic growth follow the creative class, and the migration patterns of the creative class have been challenged. Rather than validating Florida's causal logic that attracting the creative class will lead to economic growth, empirical research shows that successful regions pull and maintain human capital. The creative class thesis—and Richard Florida himself—have been criticized for what appears to be

901-559: Is that creative workers seek creative outlets in all aspects of their lives and therefore migrate to cities that actively support their preferred lifestyles" (Donegan et al., 2008, p. 181). Each year Florida and the Martin Prosperity Institute release the Global Creativity Index , an international study of nations, ranking countries on the 3Ts of economic development - talent, technology, and tolerance. "The GCI

954-433: Is to create new ideas, new technology and/or creative content" (Florida, 2002, p. 8). The designs of this group are seen as broadly transferable and useful. Another sector of the Creative Class includes positions that are knowledge intensive ; these usually require a high degree of formal education (Florida, 2002). Examples of workers in this sector are health professionals and business managers, who are considered part of

1007-661: Is used by U.S. federal government agencies collecting occupational data, enabling comparison of occupations across data sets. It is designed to cover all occupations in which work is performed for pay or profit, reflecting the current occupational structure in the United States. The 2018 SOC includes 867 detailed occupations. Users of occupational data include human resources professionals, government program managers, industrial and labor relations practitioners, students considering career training, job seekers, vocational training schools, and employers wishing to set salary scales or locate

1060-421: The "creative class", particularly for the perceived fuzziness of the concept and the lack of analytical precision. A number of studies have found problems with Florida's statistical indices. Hoyman and Faricy, using Florida's own indices, find no statistical evidence that cities with higher proportions of Creative Class workers correlated with any type of economic growth from 1990–2004. By using metropolitan areas as

1113-413: The "necessities" of life. Brooks argues that they feel guilty in the way typical of the so-called " greed era " of the 1980s so they prefer to spend extravagantly on kitchens, showers, and other common facilities of everyday life. They "feel" for the labor and working class and often purchase American-made goods rather than less expensive imports from developing nations . Bobos often relate to money as

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1166-478: The "political class" is also ill-suited to be included within creative class, as they are, in many cases, implicated in neoliberal financial deregulation and the rise in highly unstable urban and regional growth regimes evident through real estate bubbles across the United States and in other countries. In "Urban Development and the Politics of the Creative Class", Ann Markusen argues that workers qualified as being in

1219-636: The 1990s. SOC codes were updated again in 2010, and on November 28, 2017, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a Federal Register notice detailing the final decisions for the 2018 SOC. Bobos in Paradise Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There is a book by American conservative political commentator David Brooks . It was first published in 2000. The word bobo , Brooks' most famously used term,

1272-419: The 2015 GCI measured 139 countries on their creativity and prosperity. Ranked number one on the 2015 GCI is Australia. Share of Gross National Product spent on Research and Development is constantly raising at world level. Creative activities are growing at a fast pace in most advanced countries. 60% of the products that will be sold in 2030 do not yet exist. Repetitive works are being robotized. The whole world

1325-459: The Creative Class (2002), Cities and the Creative Class (2004), and The Flight of the Creative Class (2007), as well as Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks (whose "bobos" roughly correspond to Florida's creative class), and NEO Power by Ross Honeywill , has shown that cities which attract and retain creative residents prosper, while those that do not stagnate. This research has gained traction in

1378-518: The Creative Class ), and the numbers of Creative Class workers that live and move there (2002). Research involving the preferences and values of this new socioeconomic class has shown that where people choose to live can no longer be predicted according to conventional industrial theories (such as "people will go to where the jobs/factories are"). Creative workers are no longer bound by physical products, rather working with intellectual products. Their migration to metropolitan urban areas where creative work

1431-729: The Creative Class , Florida argues that members of the Creative Class value meritocracy, diversity and individuality, and look for these characteristics when they relocate (2002). As Florida demonstrates in his books, Buffalo , New Orleans and Louisville are examples of cities which have tried to attract the Creative Class but, in comparison to cities which better exemplify the "three 'T's", have failed. Creative Class workers have sought out cities that better accommodate their cultural, creative, and technological needs, such as Chapel Hill , San Francisco , Washington, D.C. , Austin , Seattle , Toronto, Ontario and Portland, Oregon . Florida also notes that Lexington and Milwaukee, Wisconsin have

1484-407: The Creative Class has developed. Following an empirical study across 90 nations, Rindermann et al. (2009) argued that high-ability classes (or smart classes) are responsible for economic growth, stable democratic development, and positively valued political aspects (government effectiveness, rule of law, and liberty). Florida's use of census and economic data, presented in works such as The Rise of

1537-430: The Creative Class have no concept of group identity, nor are they in occupations that are inherently creative. Markusen also notes that the definition of the Creative Class is based largely on educational attainment, suggesting that Florida's indices become insignificant after controlling for education . Markusen argues that Florida "does not seem to understand the nature of the occupational statistics he uses" and calls for

1590-553: The Creative Class thesis, and the associated creative city policy prescriptions, in fact exacerbate social and economic inequalities in cities in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Jamie Peck argues that the Creative Class theory offers no causal mechanism and suffers from circular logic . John Montgomery writes that "what Florida has devised is a set of indices which simply mirror more fundamental truths about creative milieux or dynamic cities." Montgomery also disagrees with

1643-614: The Gay Index, a reasonable proxy for an area's openness" (2002, pp. 244–5). Using this index, Florida rates and ranks cities in terms of innovative high-tech centers, with San Francisco being the highest ranked (2002). Florida and others have found a strong correlation between those cities and states that provide a more tolerant atmosphere toward culturally unconventional people, such as gays, artists, and musicians (exemplified by Florida's "Gay Index" and "Bohemian Index" developed in The Rise of

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1696-910: The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has developed the International Standard Classification of Occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) maintains the Direct Match Title File (DMTF) that contains job titles that match detailed occupations in the SOC. For example, the following job titles all match to the occupation Bill and Account Collectors (SOC code of 43-3011): Collection Agent, Collections Clerk, Collections Representative, Debt Collector, Installment Agent, Installment Loan Collector, Insurance Collector, Payment Collector, Repossessor, and Billing Clerk. In some cases

1749-461: The SOC are shown in the following table. The maximum weight lifted or carried averaged 25.58 pounds for all workers. For all workers, the percentage of the workday a person is required to stand averaged 56.3 percent of the workday. The figures for each major group in the SOC are in the following table. Across all occupations, 38.9 percent of all workers are required to work at a consistent and generally fast pace, 52.9 percent are required to work at

1802-546: The SOC can be combined into 459 broad occupations, 98 minor groups, and 23 major groups. The SOC codes have a hierarchical format, so for example the code "15-0000" refers to occupations in the "Computer and Mathematical Occupations" major group, and "15-1252" is a subset for the "Software Developers" detailed occupation. The SOC does not categorize industries or employers. There are parallel category systems for industries used with SOC data, most commonly NAICS . Other countries have national occupational classification systems and

1855-442: The U.S. was the first large country to have a Creative Class dealing with information technology, in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1960s less than five percent of the U.S. population was part of the Creative Class, a number that has risen to 26 percent. Seeing that having a strong Creative Class is vital in today's global economy, Europe is now almost equal with America's numbers for this group. Inter-city competition to attract members of

1908-424: The annual mean wage to be $ 65,470. Total employment and annual mean wage for each major group is in the following table. Across all occupations, 6.9 percent of all workers are exposed to hazardous contaminants. Across all occupations, about 67 percent of all workers are not exposed to the outdoors. However, among all workers, 4.1 percent are constantly exposed to the outdoors, 3.7 percent are frequently exposed to

1961-554: The business community, as well as among politicians and urban planners. Florida and other Creative Class theorists have been invited to meetings of the National Conference of Mayors and numerous economic development committees, such the Denver mayor's Task Force on Creative Spaces and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm 's Cool Cities Initiative . In Cities and the Creative Class , Florida devotes several chapters to discussion of

2014-420: The cities that Florida designates as most creative, writing that London, not Manchester and Leicester, should be one of the top in the U.K. A critique of Florida's research and theoretical framework has been developed by Matteo Pasquinelli (2006) in the context of Italian Operaismo . Scholars in the disciplines of economics, geography, sociology, and related social sciences have challenged Florida's conception of

2067-471: The creative class would be the leading force of growth in the economy expected to grow by over 10 million jobs in the next decade, which would in 2012 equal almost 40% of the population. The social theories advanced by Florida have sparked much debate and discussion. Florida's work proposes that a new or emergent class—or demographic segment made up of knowledge workers, intellectuals and various types of artists—is an ascendant economic force, representing either

2120-568: The inclusion of financial and real estate professionals within the creative class on two accounts: 1) these individuals played a decisive role as the "dealer class" in the 2007 financial crises , and therefore cannot be considered a basis for sustainable urban and regional economic growth; and 2) the financial and real estate industries (especially in headquarter cities) are economically significant regional/urban players only because they are largely "reliant on inflows of wealth created by productive activities in other regions." Moreover, Kratke argues that

2173-488: The ingredients to be a "leading city in a new economy". The "Creativity Index" is another tool that Florida uses to describe how members of the Creative Class are attracted to a city. The Creativity Index includes four elements: "the Creative Class share of the workforce; innovation, measured as patents per capita; high tech industry, using the Milken Institute's widely accepted Tech Pole Index…; and diversity, measured by

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2226-486: The line between participant and observer, or between creativity and its creators" (p. 166). Members of the Creative Class enjoy a wide variety of activities (e.g., traveling, antique shopping, bike riding, and running) that highlight the collective interest in being participants and not spectators (Florida, 2002). Numerous studies have found fault with the logic or empirical claims of Florida's Creative Class theory. This body of critical empirical research demonstrates how

2279-587: The major occupational groups to be disaggregated. She questions the inclusion of particular occupations within these broad categories such as claim adjusters , funeral directors , tax collectors , yet argues that "[t]hese occupations may indeed be creative, but so too are airplane pilots, ship engineers, millwrights, and tailors – all of whom are uncreative in Florida's tally." Moreover, it is questioned whether human creativity can be conflated with education since "[p]eople at all levels of education exercise considerable inventiveness." Research shows that economic growth

2332-464: The means for progressive ideas to prosper. "Tolerance and openness to diversity is part and parcel of the broad cultural shift toward post-materialist values... Tolerance—or, broadly speaking openness to diversity—provides an additional source of economic advantage that works alongside technology and talent" (Florida, 2012, p. 233). Diversity allows these locations to attract creative individuals and therefore stimulate economic growth. The findings from

2385-461: The minimum required by a job. Among all workers, 30.0 percent are in jobs with no minimum education requirement, 40.1 percent are in jobs where a high school degree is the minimum requirement, 19.3 percent are in jobs where a bachelor's degree is the minimum requirement, and 10.6 percent are in jobs with some other minimum requirement (for example, a graduate degree). The percentages in the various minimum requirement categories for each major group in

2438-464: The other hand, the definition of the occupation of Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators (SOC code of 27-1013) is: "Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques." Interested parties can submit suggested additions to the job titles included in the DMTF. The detailed occupations in the SOC can be combined into 23 major groups. Across all occupations, BLS reports total employment to be 151,853,870 and

2491-438: The outdoors, 15.1 percent are occasionally exposed to the outdoors, and 10.2 percent are seldomly exposed to the outdoors. Exposure to hazardous contaminants and exposure to the outdoors (seldom, occasional, frequent, or constant) for each major group are in the following table. Minimum education is the minimum education required by a job, not the educational attainment of the worker. A worker may have attained more education than

2544-415: The past 20 years. The creative class is also known for its departure from traditional workplace attire and behavior. Members of the creative class may set their own hours and dress codes in the workplace, often reverting to more relaxed, casual attire instead of business suits and ties. Creative class members may work for themselves and set their own hours, no longer sticking to the 9–5 standard. Independence

2597-425: The same places are also associated with large Creative Class populations. Florida argues that the creative class is socially relevant because of its members' ability to spur regional economic growth through innovation (2002). Walter Grünzweig, professor for American Studies at Technical University of Dortmund , has shown that the origin of the term “creative class” does not lie with Florida, but instead goes back to

2650-495: The sub-group called Creative Professionals. Their primary job is to think and create new approaches to problems. Creativity is becoming more valued in today's global society. Employers see creativity as a channel for self-expression and job satisfaction in their employees. About 38.3 million Americans and 30 percent of the American workforce identify themselves with the creative class. This number has increased by more than 10 percent in

2703-451: The three main prerequisites of creative cities (though there are many additional qualities which distinguish creative magnets). For a city to attract the Creative Class, he argues, it must possess "the three 'T's": Talent (a highly talented/educated/skilled population), Tolerance (a diverse community, which has a 'live and let live' ethos), and Technology (the technological infrastructure necessary to fuel an entrepreneurial culture). In Rise of

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2756-407: The unit of analysis, the high degree of socio-spatial variation across the metropolitan region is ignored. Studies and popular accounts have questioned whether the creative class is more likely to live in the homogenous, low-density suburban periphery. Social scientists have also identified problems with the occupational composition of the creative class. Economic geographer Stefan Kratke challenges

2809-702: The wake of the Great Recession . The creative class thesis has also drawn criticisms for relying on inner city property development , gentrification , and urban labor markets reliant on low-wage service workers , particularly in the hospitality industry . Florida has called for service workers' wages to rise. Creative Class Struggle, a Toronto-based collective, has brought these criticisms outside academic circles, challenging Florida's Creative Class theories as well as their widespread adoption into urban policy. The group manages an online clearinghouse for information about creative city strategies and policies, publishes

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