interesting dichotomy of numbers out today.
on the one hand, the aia's architecture billings index (which i am a participant with) is truly picking up steam over the past few months. at the very least, reading through the tea leaves, it indicates that work is picking up overall. and i can anecdotally back up that claim - we've brought in more staff over the past two months than the past four years combined.
on the other hand... you get a survey like this one produced by BD in the UK, which indicates a truly staggering number: only 24% of British architects are currently employed by a "company" (i'm not including self-employed in this number, although that's about 45%).
24%.
22% of architects are unemployed (staggering in itself) and 9% have just given up architecture to move on to other pursuits. the numbers are doubly worse for 'non-qualified graduates.'
cripes. what are we supposed to think? maybe the glass is just a glass, depending on where you're drinking...
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and sometimes that's ok. here's to you gregory. stay thirsty.
I would drink those numbers "with a grain of salt"
GB is an anomaly Greg, their ridiculous austerity program will send them into a triple or quad dip recession. Now, if the republicans have their way, then, we're all fucked.
beta - i agree (and mentioned austerity in my tweet for the post). but, i'm having a hard time accepting it's the full reason for the difference.
curkram - if that's 15 year single malt, i'll drink that with you every day.
jla-x... yeah, not feeling the drink there. but i appreciate the offer...
I wonder how the number of architecture school graduates relates to the number who have dropped out of the architecture field altogether? Meaning, are we graduating so many more degreed graduates these days that even if we were back to pre-recession construction levels would we still just have too many grads and therefore a high percentage dropping out of the field?
On a side note: I rarely fill a glass all the way. Generally glasses look more aesthetically pleasing to me when they are less than half full for a short glass and about 2/3 full for a tall one. But I do love a pint of beer right to the brim.
Yeah, design is great and all, but man it is a crappy profession.
I like to think of myself as a glass completely empty and needing a refill kind of guy...
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