In 2008 report by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) estimated that the total creative employment of the UK was 1,887,878. Of these, 1,242,811 (66%) were employed in the creative industries, and 645,067  (34%) engaged in creative roles in non-creative industries. Of the 1,242,811 employed specifically within the creative industries, 552,170 (44%) were engaged in specialist creative occupations, whilst 690,641 (56%) were engaged in business and support occupations. The report also found that creative employment in the UK had grown by 3.2% between 1981 and 2006, compared to 0.8% for the broader economy.
Beyond the creative industries: mapping the creative economy in the United Kingdom, National Endowment for Science, Technlogy and the Arts (NESTA), 2008

It was reported in 2007 that employment in some sections of the creative industries was growing by 6% per annum.
Publicly-funded culture and the creative industries, John Holden/Demos for Arts Council England (ACE), June 2007

In 2005-06 ACE regularly funded organisations employed 15,500 permanent staff and 33,000 contractual staff. 17,900 people assisted with the work of regularly funded organisations on a voluntary basis.
Regularly funded organisations: key data from the 2005/06 annual submission, ACE, July 2007

In 2005 it was stated there were 1.8 million jobs in creative employment, of which one million were in the creative industries and the remainder were creative jobs in businesses outside the creative industries. 
Creative Industries Economics Estimates Statistical Bulletin, Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 2006

After falling for four years after 2001, total creative employment in London upturned again in 2005.
Measuring Creativity: 2006 update of the GLA's creative industry economic data, Greater London Authority, 2006, cited in Staying Ahead: the economic performance of the UK's creative industries, The Work Foundation for DCMS, 2007

Between 1995 and 2005 firms in "layer 1" of the creative industries (defined by current DCMS methodology as being engaged in the core creative processes around which broader business structures develop) grew their turnover by £66.4 billion, and their employment by 290,000.
The Creative Economy Programme: A Summary of Projects Commissioned in 2006/07, DCMS, August 2007

In 2004, the creative industries represented London's third largest employment sector, with 525,000 people working directly in the creative industries or in creative occupations in other sectors.
London Cultural Capital; Realising the potential of a world-class city, Greater London Authority (GLA), 2004

Employment in the UK creative industries grew at a rate of 3% per annum, compared with a rate of 1% for the economy as a whole between 1997 and 2004.
Creative Industries Economic Estimates Statistical Bulletin, DCMS, 2004

In 2004 one in seven jobs in London was in the creative sector.
London's Creative Sector, GLA, 2004, quoted in Publicly-funded culture and the creative industries, John Holden/Demos for ACE, June 2007.

The creative industries accounted for between a fifth and a quarter of job growth in London between 1995 and 2001.
The Creative Economy Programme: A Summary of Projects Commissioned in 2006/07, DCMS, August 2007

Between 1995 and 2001 London's creative industries grew faster than any other major industry except the financial and business sector, and accounted for between 20 and 25% of job growth in London during this period.
Staying Ahead: the economic performance of the UK's creative industries, The Work Foundation for DCMS, 2007