The UK public relations sector contributes £7.1 billion to the UK economy and supports more than 95,000 full-time equivalent jobs, according to a new report launched today by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA).
The analysis was produced independently by CBI Economics, and supported by Burson, Edelman, FINN Partners, FleishmanHillard, Hanover Communications, Ketchum (now Golin Ketchum), Penta and Portland.
Beyond Communications: Understanding the economic contribution of the UK public relations sector, finds that public relations should be understood not simply as a communications discipline, but as a strategic capability that enables wider economic and societal outcomes.
Alongside the study, PRCA has published a briefing paper setting out why organisations should invest in public relations and public affairs to build trust, enterprise value and social impact. PRCA Honorary President Charles Lewington has also written an accompanying opinion piece exploring why the UK public relations sector is a British professional services success story with global influence.
The CBI Economics report demonstrates that public relations is a significant, high-value sector spanning modern communications, public affairs, stakeholder engagement, reputation management, crisis preparedness, investor relations and strategic advisory work.
Using a bespoke taxonomy developed with PRCA member insight and applied through The Data City’s machine learning models, the research provides one of the clearest assessments yet of the modern PR and public affairs sector’s economic footprint.
The headline findings show that PR businesses generate £4.0 billion in direct Gross Value Added (GVA), with a further £3.1 billion supported through supply chains and employee spending. For every £1 generated directly by PR businesses, another 77p is created elsewhere in the economy.
The sector directly employs more than 52,000 people, with wider activity supporting 95,464 jobs. It is a high-wage, high-productivity industry, with average wages estimated at £46,003, around 18% higher than the UK average, and £77,628 in GVA generated per FTE job.
The report also highlights the sector’s national footprint. PR generates more than £100 million in economic value in every UK region, with significant hubs in London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol.
London remains the largest centre of activity, contributing £2.9 billion in GVA and supporting 26,102 jobs, followed by the South East at £919 million, the North West at £639 million, the East of England at £494 million and the South West at £409 million.
Public affairs is identified as a core pillar of the sector’s contribution, with professionals helping organisations engage policymakers, regulators, political actors and civil society, and supporting better dialogue between decision-makers, businesses, communities and the wider public.
PRCA CEO, Sarah Waddington CBE, said:
“This report is a landmark moment for our industry. It proves that public relations and public affairs are not peripheral functions, they are engines of economic value, trust and influence across the UK.
“At £7.1 billion and more than 95,000 jobs, our sector is making a major contribution to national prosperity. But its real power goes beyond the numbers: PR and public affairs help organisations cross complexity, build confidence, shape policy, protect reputation and create the trust that modern economies depend on.
“Fundamentally this report proves that public relations and public affairs are growing in strength and should be seen as an asset class close to management. In this time of fracturing social cohesion, our skills are needed more than ever and should be further invested in to unlock greater economic and societal outcomes.”
CBI Economics Director, Adriana Curca, said:
“The impact of public relations has always been difficult to measure because it doesn’t sit neatly under one official economic category. Instead its activity cuts across various disciplines – like communications, public affairs and strategic consultancy, making the sector’s true scale almost impossible to identify.
“By building a bespoke taxonomy around what these businesses actually do, rather than how they happen to be registered, we’ve been able to properly isolate the sector for the first time and quantify its contribution with confidence. What the data shows is a genuinely high-value, productive part of the economy.
“PR employees generate around 55% more value added per worker than the creative industries average, and productivity levels are broadly comparable to knowledge-intensive professional sectors such as legal and accounting. It is also a national sector rather than a London one, with every UK region generating more than £100 million in PR-related economic value.”
The CBI Economics research does not capture the important work carried out by in house practitioners, including public sector professionals such as those in local government and the NHS, so the contribution public relations makes to economic success is even more substantial than the headlines suggest.
