MPAA Explores Economic Impact of Hollywood

LOS ANGELES: The motion picture and television industry in the U.S. supports 2.5 million American jobs, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which today released the results of its biennial nationwide economic impact report.

Of those 2.5 million positions, 285,000 are involved in the core business of producing, marketing, manufacturing and distributing movies and TV shows, and more than 478,000 are employed in related businesses like TV networks, cable platforms and movie theaters. The industry supports a further 1.7 million indirect  jobs. The average salary for those employed in the core production-related sector was just under $75,000 in 2007.

As of 2008, the industry comprises more than 115,000 businesses across the U.S., and 81 percent of these employ fewer than ten people.

The report also notes that the motion picture and TV industry paid out $41.1 billion in wages to American workers, and $38.2 billion in payments to U.S. vendors and suppliers, small businesses and entrepreneurs. The segment also shelled out $13 billion in income and sales taxes.

In 2007, the export of American audiovisual entertainment drew in $15 billion, a 23-percent increase on 2006. The segment accrued a $13.6 billion trade surplus.