thanks, rusty!  i know what you are saying about the 91% employment figure.  It is probably because the data is pre-recession.  but right now doesn't the AIA say there are somewhere between 180,000 and 200,000 practicing professions?  so maybe 180,000/264,000 is a more accurate reflection of employment for the field.

jmanganelli, according to the study, there are 264,402 holders of architecture degrees out there. Maybe they just copied AIA stats?

In either case, architects comprise of 9% of all engineering professionals. According to the study, of course.

if only 180,000 to 200,000 are practicing right now, but 264,000 hold degrees, then that means somewhere between 25% and 33% are not in the field --- either left it for another career path or have been forced out ---

that seems about right --- of course it does not begun to get at the problem of those still employed who are still on 3/4 pay or dealing with 10% to 30% salary reduction while working 40+ hours per week --- or those who really are underemployed

graduate degree = 19 more percent?

Why is architect's salary so bad in that report?

I'd say that architecture is a career without a prosper future.  The problem is that people started to see that architecture is not completely necessary. The same that happened to the art is going to happen to architecture. Architecture is slowly decaying. Why do civil engineers have better salaries? Civil engineering is a career which is originated from architecture. A lot of things in civil engineering come from architecture. Of course, they simplified many things in civil engineering. Right now, more students are taking civil engineering instead of architecture due to civil engineering has a better future. You will live better. Really, you do not find anything good about architecture. Maybe, you could find good about architecture is that is a beautiful career. But the architecture economy is really bad, and is going to worsen every day. Civil engineering firms have 3 times the incomes that architecture firm makes. I understand that this happening because civil engineers do more than architects. Although, architects could do more, maybe, they can do something else in business. Architects should learn more about business. Architects design the buildings but somebody else takes the credit for the building. Even famous architects let this happen. If architects do not begin to risk, the career is never going to change or improve. 

sounds like you want to be a civil engineer

 nahhh Piero wants to research and write a guide about architects being developers and share it with us.

I am not saying that. What I am saying is that architecture is a career which is always changing aesthetically and professionally but never economically. Thus, it is disappointing to make a grand sacrifice to don't have a good future. 

I think that you have to compare civil engineer's salary with architect's salary because you will see that the difference of salaries is almost $20k. That is a lot. 

what are you going to do about it?

Hey Piero Arguello. You've been arguelloing exact same talking points in almost every post you've made. With complete disregard to feedback. You're like chinese knockoff of Pinocchio. "Adventures of Piero Arguello". More he arguellos, more his nose grows.

What's with the obsession with civil engineers? Their scope of work is seldom related to what architects do. They do roads and highways: something our society values more than schools and libraries.  Combine that with the fact that its the government bodies that commission road works, and their salaries are naturally higher.

But here I go sticking my nose in an otherwise perfect arguello monologue. Sorry!

awww Rusty I think you just miss your youthful days of enthusiastically slamming your head into a wall with the conviction that any moment it would crumble and the light would come shining through!  I know I could use a focused dose of that kind of persistence right now.  I am going to go through my very incomplete notes and start a new thread just for Piero!

I would like to retract my last comment.  Rusty you were right and I was WRONG!http://archinect.com/forum/thread/8291876/hey-piero-architect-developer

Tonight I am the village idiot and you remain the rustilicious one. 

Back to OP

http://www.businessinsider.com/hey-college-seniors-this-is-whats-happening-to-your-peers-when-they-try-to-find-jobs-2011-4#only-57-of-you-wil-have-full-time-jobs-2

1/3 of grads will be moving back with their parents

1/5 will be depending on parent$
1/2 will find full time employment

1/3 (of 1/2) of those full time employed will work in a field that doesn't require your college degree

Not mentioned: DEBT

ok pinnocchio, here is the thing every office i know is involved with developering or other kinds of practice than you assume in every point you make.  this is a business and architects understand that and are finding their way in spite of your spite.  what we are suffering most from is a bad economy, not (only) an intrinsic flaw in the entire profession.

just wanted to say that even though i know you aren't listening.

sheesh.

is 85K a bad salary in the usa?  it is firmly middle class in tokyo (where i am) and much more than i ever earned as a sous-chef...

Hey jump,

$85k is a fantastic salary in most US markets. It's well over the median household income which is around $50k, and well over double the individual median income.

Even in places like NYC and SF, $85k is a very good salary.

The trouble is, these numbers are very outdated. There has been a stagnation in salaries since the onset of recession, and architects who would be making that kind of money by now are making upward of $20k less. 

Things will adjust once the economy stabilizes, but until then, most architects are indeed suffering. Relatively speaking, of course.

ah that makes sense.  cheers

I'm surprised that Liberal Arts degrees are actually a decent degree (a high concretration of which are in management). And 9 percent of Liberal Arts degree-holders work in the Finance industry. Liberal Arts is apparently far from a worthless degree, too!

Maybe there's hope for me yet.

saw this today:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-arum-college-20110602,0,1981136.story

Its definitely a tough profession. Architecture is hard on salary, a just straight from immediate thoughts its professional my terrifying licensed profession economically. Young architects needs to take a stance on the my influencial organization of architecture, NCARB, AIA and whichever other. I think considering the pay, the struggles and unpredictability of nerving possibilities for an architect, the school system, license procedure and governance of the profession need to be pacified. Many times it flash by my thought of leaving the profession, but if you good at it and find non ending passion its hard nothing the time from school, competition and work.

Louis my man. There are more gramatical train-wrecks than sentences in what you just wrote, Well done!

lol Rusty sent it off before I couple read it over

Its definitely a tough profession. Architecture is hard on salary, straight from my immediate thoughts its the most terrifying licensed profession economically. Young architects needs to take a stance on the most influential organizations of architecture NCARB, AIA, school system and others. I think considering the pay, the struggles and unpredictability of the nerving possibilities for an architect, the school systems, license process and governance of the profession need to be pacified. Many times it flash by my thoughts of leaving the profession, but if your good at it and find a none ending passion its hard to stop, not to mention the magnitude of time invest from school, competition, license exam ordeal and work.

UX Design... 

lot of architects are going into that

pays twice as much.. twice as fast

true, victimeyes, but there are a lot of other professional backgrounds flooding the market as well --- psychology, computer science, industrial engineering, industrial design, marketing, business --- most of which have a deeper knowledge in the underlying fundamentals associated with ux design --- i don't know if that means the market is saturating quickly or not, but my sense is that it might be

Are we seeing the beginning of a scramble for decent careers?

roger that, jbushkey, over