“Unemployment rates are up among working artists and the artist workforce has contracted, according to new research from the National Endowment for the Arts. Artists in a Year of Recession: Impact on Jobs in 2008 examines how the economic slowdown has affected the nation’s working artists. The study looks at artist employment patterns during two spikes in the current recession – the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008. This downturn reflects larger economic declines: a Commerce Department report last week noted a 6.2 percent decrease in the gross domestic product in the last quarter of 2008.
“Among the findings:
- Artists are unemployed at twice the rate of professional workers
- Unemployment rates for artists have risen more rapidly than for U.S. workers as a whole
- Artist unemployment rates would be even higher if not for the large number of artists leaving the workforce
- Unemployment rose for most types of artist occupations
- The job market for artists is unlikely to improve until long after the U.S. economy starts to recover” (via mediabistro)
The 'Not-So-Rough' Guide 
That is sad and depressing. Yet I always hold out hope. I have seen this myself as my photography sales have slumped. But there is still people out there buying. I think if artists can weather the storm of the economy it will be like the cream rising to the top. The best will survive.