A recent Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) study found that advertising agencies saw a 10% fall in staff numbers in 2020.
The report found that agency staff numbers fell from 24,866 in 2019 to 22,188 in 2020. A quarter of the number drop was directly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Female employees were more affected by pandemic than men; there was around a 12.8% drop in female employees than an 8.1% decline in male staff between 2019 and 2020. The gender pay gap was also 22.7% in favour of males.
The number of staff from a non-white background rose from 13.7% in 2019 to 15.3% in 2020. But, non-white individuals held only 6.4% of senior roles. The ethnic pay gap was also 19.5% in favour of employees from a white background.
[2 minute read]