With steady migration to Sun Belt states and many baby boomers retiring in the next few years, there should be an uptick in demand for new homes, healthcare facilities, and office buildings. This means the job market for architects should remain solid. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects architect employment growth of 23.1 percent between 2010 and 2020, adding 31,300 more professionals to the 135,400 already-existing jobs in this field. — money.usnews.com
18 Comments
HA! that's kinda funny, maybe in 5-10 years.....
Are you sure this wasn't put out by The Onion?
BLS was predicting 23% growth in 2006 as well, but their own data shows a 56% contraction since then.
wow. straight up propaganda commissioned by the higher education industrial complex. i don't see any other way to explain this.
"Others opt to enroll in a graduate program, which can take ONE to five years to complete, after obtaining an undergraduate degree in a field outside of architecture"
WRONG!!!! there is no one year graduate degree for someone without and architectural undergraduate degree. Goes to show the quality of research done for this piece.
Some kind of sick joke???
i agree with Micah McKelvey, this is pure propaganda B.S
i dont agree with this.
and I don't agree with Micah, the generic work he shows on his profile is a testament to that
U.S. Snooze completely misses the point. How is there going to be demand for our services in a world where we have a huge overabundance of building stock, in housing and in commercial buildings, that is going to take a generation to normalize?
Apurimac has it right. When the boomers move (most really won't) their existing houses come on the market, soaking up demand that might go into new houses. And in 20 years or so, boomers will be dying off in high numbers, adding to the inventory of empty houses.
The reference to demand "remaining strong" implies that it's currently strong. Huh??
USNews has no credibility with this kind of reporting. Sad that some high school kid may read this article and be lulled into thinking architecture is a viable career choice.
After reading these comments, I'm curious if there's anywhere in the US where architecture is doing well. Or anywhere around the world?
@ geezertect: The average lifespan of most residential buildings is 60-75 years, and a vast number of the boomer houses you speak of were built in the 50's and 60's. Do the math - infills and renovations will keep some portion of architects busy for the next decade or so.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the vast majority of North American municipalities have been neutered by neighborhood/community associations in terms of the ability to direct development, resulting in the absence of comprehensive and forward-thinking urban planning in contemporary cities. Ultimately this means sticking to status quo 'architecture' (read: stuff that doesn't need architects to get designed and built) for the majority of above-mentioned infills, and that the number of architects doing this kind of work will remain relatively low compared to builders. Builders, incidentally, are not regulated by the AIA, do not require 4+ years of education, 3+ years of internship, and 7 exams to be in the business of building things.
Though I don't agree with this article, many posters here on archinect are starting to resort to simplistic claims such as "we have a huge overabundance of building stock, in housing and in commercial buildings, that is going to take a generation to normalize?" or assumptions such as PVC piipes melt, sue the architect that specified them for sprinklers. Please do the research before you decide to make simplistic claims. The truth is, there will always be work replacing stock that is going offline. We may hit a few years that are slower than others, but people can't keep living in the same old dilapidated housing stock or working in inefficient spaces. Leave the sensationalism to FOX.
Spark, instead of setting up a straw man why not enlighten me as to how I'm wrong regarding the "huge overabundance of building stock"? Last I checked new construction was dead and almost every city in this country has a huge abundance of vacants. Even the government is laying off new construction. We have alot of empty, perfectly good buildings sitting around right now, and every client I've worked with wants to maximize value from what space they have as much as possible. The emphasis for the next 30 years is going to be on economy and cost savings, not extravagant new building projects. That's going to leave alot of us who we're well paid back during the boom out in the cold. Our profession was ground zero for the single biggest asset bubble in history, the hangover is going to last for decades.
If I'm wrong, we'll all be back at the punch bowl soon and all will be well, which I'm perfectly cool with.
The article is ridiculous, but housing is a need. people will always need food, water, energy, and shelter. those things are a safe bet. you guys miss the fact that the population is increasing exponentially, and that those babyboomers have kids that will need somewhere to live. there is an overstock, but I don't think it is as great as it seems, because most of it is in the form of forclosures that the banks are sitting on. when they go up for trustee sale, they get snatched up really quick by investors and then the investors rent them out. Rental demand is really high. I had a hard time finding a rental myself. I see multifamily housing being a good bet in the future because ownership will likely decrease, but the demand for shelter will be high (unless it gets really bad out there.)
OK, It seems worth pointing out that this article link is a little misleading. "Architect" isn't actually listed as one of the 25 "Best Jobs 2012"*, it's listed as #2 in "Best Creative Services Jobs", a category in which they only have 3 occupations ranked (#1- Public Relations Specialist, #2- Architect, #3- Artist and Designer)**.
So, yes, the article is ridiculous and seems to be strangely researched and misleading to the way-too-under-informed-public, but at least the context isn't as horrifying as implied.
*http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2012/02/27/the-best-25-jobs-of-2012-rankings
**http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2012/02/27/best-jobs-creative-services
I am out of work for more than 3 years , please tell me is there any hope to get a job even part time. i agree with Micah McKelvey, this is pure propaganda B.S.
Hi, I am kinda the sad high school student that geezertect is taking about. I am a high school senior and wanted to study architecture ever since freshman year of high school. I did my research for the pass week and find out "Undergraduate architecture students are reportedly facing 13.9 percent unemployment rates" in a Georgetown University’s study. I am still going to major in architecture this fall but my point is that architects were doing great before the economy crashes and the housing market fall but economy is getting back up and I guess I really dont know whats gonna happen in 4-5 year when I graduate. What do you think about me going in to architect major right now?
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