5th August 2009, 03:05 PM
From IfA Website:
"The current economic situation continues to adversely affect archaeology. The majority of employers surveyed in July 2009 have continued to either lose staff or remain unchanged in staff numbers over the first quarter of 2009-10 (figures to 1st July 2009), although these losses were almost exactly offset by a small number of employers taking on staff in this period. This means that, while technically there has been a small increase in the number of people working, effectively there has been neither a net loss nor a net gain in the total number of people working in archaeology over the period 1 April ? 1 July 2009.
However, this can probably not be seen as the end of the downturn. Even those employers who have taken on staff ? which are typically linked to specific infrastructure projects ? expect this to be a relatively short-term alleviation. It is thus likely to represent a plateau in an ongoing pattern of job losses.
We remain in a position where, since the summer of 2007, approximately 660 jobs have been lost across professional archaeology in the UK. This figure continues to represent 1 in 6 (16.5%) of all commercial archaeological posts, which equates to nearly 10% of all the jobs in professional archaeology that existed in 2007.
While no further business failures leading to practices ceasing trading have been reported, it is known that at least one will cease to trade in the next quarter. An increasing number of businesses are working reduced hours, in several cases with individual members of staff or the whole business working four-day weeks.
The largest organisations (employing over 100 people) have typically been the organisations that have increased their staffing capacities, whereas medium sized and smaller organisations have continued to either lose staff or for staffing levels to remain unchanged.
While some further job losses are anticipated in the quarter to the end of September 2009, the employers of 19% of the staff at all respondent organisations do not expect to be able to maintain current staffing levels. This remains significantly high, although it is a slight reduction on the April 2009 figure, when the employers of 25% of staff at respondents expected to lose workers, and a marked reduction from the January 2009 figure, when the organisations employing 66% of the total number of archaeologists working for respondents expected to lose staff.
Business confidence is slowly improving, but remains poor. As many employers expect the situation to deteriorate further in the coming twelve months as expect it to improve, but most expect more commercial archaeological businesses to cease trading.
Fieldworker skills continue to be lost, in both senior and junior roles. Consultancy (advice provision) skills are also being lost by the sector."
The latest report can be downloaded here - http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/ic...July09.pdf.
"The current economic situation continues to adversely affect archaeology. The majority of employers surveyed in July 2009 have continued to either lose staff or remain unchanged in staff numbers over the first quarter of 2009-10 (figures to 1st July 2009), although these losses were almost exactly offset by a small number of employers taking on staff in this period. This means that, while technically there has been a small increase in the number of people working, effectively there has been neither a net loss nor a net gain in the total number of people working in archaeology over the period 1 April ? 1 July 2009.
However, this can probably not be seen as the end of the downturn. Even those employers who have taken on staff ? which are typically linked to specific infrastructure projects ? expect this to be a relatively short-term alleviation. It is thus likely to represent a plateau in an ongoing pattern of job losses.
We remain in a position where, since the summer of 2007, approximately 660 jobs have been lost across professional archaeology in the UK. This figure continues to represent 1 in 6 (16.5%) of all commercial archaeological posts, which equates to nearly 10% of all the jobs in professional archaeology that existed in 2007.
While no further business failures leading to practices ceasing trading have been reported, it is known that at least one will cease to trade in the next quarter. An increasing number of businesses are working reduced hours, in several cases with individual members of staff or the whole business working four-day weeks.
The largest organisations (employing over 100 people) have typically been the organisations that have increased their staffing capacities, whereas medium sized and smaller organisations have continued to either lose staff or for staffing levels to remain unchanged.
While some further job losses are anticipated in the quarter to the end of September 2009, the employers of 19% of the staff at all respondent organisations do not expect to be able to maintain current staffing levels. This remains significantly high, although it is a slight reduction on the April 2009 figure, when the employers of 25% of staff at respondents expected to lose workers, and a marked reduction from the January 2009 figure, when the organisations employing 66% of the total number of archaeologists working for respondents expected to lose staff.
Business confidence is slowly improving, but remains poor. As many employers expect the situation to deteriorate further in the coming twelve months as expect it to improve, but most expect more commercial archaeological businesses to cease trading.
Fieldworker skills continue to be lost, in both senior and junior roles. Consultancy (advice provision) skills are also being lost by the sector."
The latest report can be downloaded here - http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/ic...July09.pdf.
