Checking the Pulse of the Architecture Industry – Part II: the Survey Results

“We hate to be the bad news bears, but, as one survey respondent stated, “unless one is happy and married to money this is going to be painful.” We are, obviously, talking about the economic crisis the entire world is experiencing. The architecture industry gets hit pretty quickly in a downward economy. Diane Georgopulis, President of the Boston Society of Architects said, “architects at some level are kind of the canaries in the mine. When development dries up, architects are probably the first people to know.” Unemployment rates are on the rise and almost all of us know at least a few people are on a job hunt. “The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs, capping one of the worst years in modern history for American workers.” – Huffington Post, January 9, 2009

The survey results are in and the Archinect community has spoken. Several thousand Archinect visitors offered themselves up for the pulse test and the diagnosis is, sadly, that many of the survey respondents are barely alive. We did find is that there is a small percentage of respondents out there with a healthy pulse, positive outlook and amazing ideas for how to make it through the economic plague we are experiencing. From the larger community of pessimists we’ll take a a huge dose of reality. And from you positive folks, we’ll take some inspiration and much-needed advice on how to make it through this mess.”

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(Source: Archinect.com)