National Survey Finds Creativity Gap in U.S. Workplace

 A survey commissioned by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) has found that less than half of Americans think they are tapping their creative capacities on the job. That figure stands in contrast to the majority of American workers (73 percent) who believe they are instinctively creative, revealing a “creativity gap.”

Further, despite a job market slowly recovering from the recession, more than one quarter of Americans (27 percent) say they would accept a job that offered less money if they were given the opportunity to be more creative at work. Nearly one third (32 percent) said they would relocate in order to be part of a more creative community.

The survey found that 73 percent of U.S. workers consider themselves creative, but when it comes to creativity in the workplace, just 42 percent said their positions were creative, and 43 percent thought similarly about the companies for which they work.

This “creativity gap” appears to be widening. A similar study conducted for the FCEDA in 2007 found that 88 percent of U.S. workers considered themselves creative, while 61 percent reported that they worked for a creative company or held a creative position (63 percent).

The most likely respondents to say they would change jobs for a more creative environment are young workers (39 percent) and workers making under $50,000 a year (33 percent). Those most likely to say they would change where they live for greater creativity in their community are men (36 percent) and those from the South (33 percent) and West (36 percent) regions. As age increases, the likelihood of wanting to make this move decreases.