United States Department of Labor
The annual Academy Awards ceremony was held Sunday, February 26, to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements in the U.S. film industry. Impress your friends with these facts we’ve gathered about the Oscars and the motion picture business.
This year’s Oscar for Best Picture went to La La Land Moonlight.
- Not all actors reach the top, but lots are trying: Actors in the U.S. can be found coast to coast with a total employment of 50,570. Almost one-third, or about 14,560, work in the greater Los Angeles metro area alone. Employment of actors is projected to grow 10 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations.
Walt Disney is the most Oscar-nominated person ever with 59 nominations.
- Walt may be gone, but his legacy lives on: Today there are 30,240 multimedia artists and animators employed in the U.S. California employs about a third (10,110) with half of those in the greater Los Angeles area (5,830). Employment of multimedia artists and animators is projected to grow 6 percent from 2014 to 2024, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Since 1945, the accounting firm Price Waterhouse (now called PricewaterhouseCoopers) has tabulated the Oscar ballots to ensure the secrecy of the results.
- There are a total of 1,226,910 accountants in the United States, and California again has the largest employment with 144,540. Employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow 11 percent from 2014 to 2024.
Oscar weekend is a boon to the beauty industry: Before walking down the red carpet, many use the services of a hairstylist – and house calls reportedly start at $500.
- Nationwide, 348,010 hairstylists are employed. The five states with the most are California (26,340), New York (25,420), Pennsylvania (24,210), Florida (23,840) and Texas (22,050). The metropolitan area with the most hairstylists is New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ, with 20,790. Employment of barbers, hairdressers, and cosmetologists is projected to grow 10 percent from 2014 to 2024.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences identified 336 feature films eligible for the 2016 Academy Awards.
- In the US, the motion picture and video industries employ 388,538 people within 26,315 establishments. You can learn more about employment and wages in the movie business from the February 27 edition of The Economics Daily.
The first Academy Awards ceremony was on May 16, 1929, at the Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room with 270 attendees. The price of admission was $5, which included a broiled chicken dinner.
- That $5 ticket in 1929 is equivalent to $70.18 in 2016.
The Oscar statuette is 13.5 inches tall and weighs 8.5 pounds. A New York foundry casts them in bronze before they receive a 24-karat gold finish.
- Workers who make these kinds of items are part of a small industry, known as “other nonferrous foundries, excluding die-casting,” with only 12,372 employees nationwide. About half are employed in three states: Michigan, Oregon and Ohio. Employment in the foundries industry is projected to decrease by about 17 percent from 2014 to 2024.
After the Oscars ceremony, you may be inspired to go to a movie. But did you know how much these prices have changed over the last 10 years?
- Admission to movies, theaters and concerts is up 21 percent, carbonated drinks are up 19 percent, and candy and chewing gum are up 28 percent. We don’t track popcorn — sorry!
Editor’s note: Oscar-specific facts are from the official Oscars website, unless another source is provided.