Creative class

The creative class was a term coined by a Carnegie Mellon University social scientist Richard Florida. It describes a group of people that Florida believes are a key driving force for economic development of post-industrial cities in the USA.

The "Creative Class" concept is highly controversial, as is Florida's methodology. He breaks the Class into two broad sections, derived from standard SOC codes data sets:

Firstly the wide range of "Creativity Professionals" – very much akin to the established research term of knowledge workers and expanding to include financial planners, doctors and lawyers.

Secondly the "Super-Creative Core". This comprises about 12 percent of all U.S. jobs. However, even this group is deemed to contain a huge range of occupations (e.g. all architects, education workers, sports workers) – with arts, design, and media workers making only a small sub-set of it. The gay men and "bohemians", much touted by the media, make up an even smaller sub-set.