Executive Summary

Grant Thornton’s research into the economic impact of design and craft in the Irish economy has identified a series of key findings which show the sector to be vibrant, productive, and delivering wider economic and social impacts across Ireland.

Craft and design are high value and growing

The craft and design-intensive sectors generated €2.9 billion in Gross Value Added* (GVA) in 2019. This value has grown by 111% (i.e. from €1.4 billion) since the last time the sector’s impact was measured, in 2012. Enterprises classified as ‘design in other sectors’ contributed a further €17.7 billion, an increase from €5.1 billion in 2012. In total, over €53 billion of turnover was generated by enterprises across all three sectoral definitions. This would be equivalent to 6.7% of Ireland’s total business turnover of €794.7 billion in 2018.

The scale of the design and craft sectors is growing

In 2019, there were 105,000 people employed across the craft and design economy (craft, design-intensive and design in other sectors), an increase of 39,000 from 2012. This makes the sector broadly equivalent to the information and communication sector (107,256) and similar to the construction sector (144,521). Between 2012 and 2019, the number of enterprises engaged in design-intensive and craft activities rose 6.6% to over 18,000. If the craft and design economy, as defined in this report, were considered to be one sector, it would be the 8th largest in Ireland by number of enterprises and 10th largest by number of employees.

Craftspeople and Designers are highly productive

In 2019, the 54,000 people employed in the craft and design-intensive sectors contributed over €150,000 in turnover per employee and over €53,000 in GVA per employee. The design-intensive sectors, in particular, were highly productive, with turnover per employee of €200,000 and GVA per employee of €72,000. This compares favourably with other sectors such as construction and real estate. The value of design in driving productivity and innovation across other sectors is highlighted by the €346,000 GVA per employee, making it the second highest detailed sector, ahead of information and communication and behind manufacturing only.

Craft and design support a wide footprint of other businesses in Ireland

As well as generating significant returns directly through their own output, craft and design enterprises provide a further indirect and induced benefit to the economy, and wider society, through employment, wages and other expenditure generated by downstream industries and employees of those businesses. This sees the total economic contribution of the sector increase to €3.6 billion from €2.3 billion in 2020 when accounting for an additional €0.8 billion of indirect benefits and €0.5 billion of induced benefits.

Key findings

Covid-19 – a significant challenge but creating opportunity for the future

The craft and design economy, like almost all other sectors, could not escape the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. 53% of respondents to DCCI’s annual client survey reported a decrease in sales, resulting in an estimated fall in turnover of €1.6 billion. This was a quarter of 2019 turnover and followed six consecutive years of growth for the combined sector. The loss of turnover meant that an estimated 7% of individuals previously engaged in design and craft activities in 2019 left the sector in 2020.

Despite this, the comparatively small employment loss relative to the turnover loss suggests that those individuals may return to the sector when normal trading conditions resume.

The survey also highlighted that 40% of respondents recorded growth, despite the challenging circumstances. A significant element of this growth was driven by the movement to, or greater reliance, on e-commerce. Grant Thornton understand that DCCI is assessing and addressing the challenges of the post pandemic economy and is finalising a new strategy for the sector.

Craftspeople and designers are highly qualified

Across the workforce of both sectors, the highest level of educational attainment continues to rise, with 22% of craft employees and 42% of design-intensive enterprise employees having received at least a degree classification. This represents growth across all ‘degree and above’ classifications since 2011, and reflects that those engaged are remaining in formal education for longer, that there are increased opportunities provided by the sectors, and also that that there may be a growing expectation amongst employers for employees to be educated to this level.

Demographics challenges

There is anecdotal evidence from stakeholder consultations to suggest that, prior to Covid-19, some areas of the craft and design-intensive sectors faced challenges in terms of availability of skilled craftspeople and designers, as demand exceeded supply. In addition, some traditional skills were considered to be in danger of being lost due to an aging cohort of skilled practitioners and a lack of succession to a younger generation. Indeed, across the sectors, while their profile is broadly comparable to the wider labour force of Ireland, there is a clear ‘aging’ of the population amongst those engaged in both craft and design-intensive activities. Similarly, the design and craft economy has a gender challenge, with males making up 72% of the craft sector and 68% of the design-intensive sector. The subsectors include some heavily gendered activities, e.g. woodworking trades are heavily male dominated and sewing is dominated by women. Overall, the sector is very differently split in terms of gender compared to the whole economy, which is 54% male. It is important that DCCI consider tailored interventions to encourage Diversity and Inclusion, and ensure the development of the right mix of skills to support sector growth.