Are the White Collar Forgotton in a Recession?
The last Constructonomics post stirred the pot a bit in some civil engineering forums. The Sorry Kid, Construction is a Cyclical Industry post brought some interesting and thought provoking comments. One of which brought about some particular interest from myself because it touched on a subject that tends to rarely get touched. And without going into any more drawn-out chatter, I’ll just post the comment.
Four years ago, the pundits were lamenting a lack of engineers in the future. Someone please tell me, what lack are we seeing now? I am probably lucky to be out of work only since last May, and every advertised position I apply for has an “overwhelming response”. And as for public works design projects, where? As far as I know, there isn’t a stimulus program for the design professionals. I empathize with the guys and gals that take a shower after work, now how about the guys and gals that take one before going to work?
Doesn’t everybody take a shower before work?
Anyway, I think this commenter is a bit peeved at the fact that engineering is sold by companies and universities as a relatively stable field that won’t get you rich but will most likely keep you off the streets and out of a cardboard box. Well, about half of that is true. You probably won’t get rich, but if you don’t have some significant money saved you may be living in a beautiful 8 square foot mobile apartment when the construction market tanks.
Is it really worth going to school, busting your a** doing problem sets and studying for exams every night, just to get tossed on the street during the inevitable downturns that have occurred in this industry for the past 100 years? I’m sorry, but the answer is just no.
The government is now pushing like hell to get going on “shovel ready” projects. Well, that’s great if you are an excavation contractor or a paving guy, but what about architects and engineers that need fresh projects coming in the door to get paid? Well, I’m sorry, but the group of architects and engineers is just too small compared to the millions of construction laborers, craftsmen, and equipment contractors to really make a difference. Giving the bailiffs rights of entry and bankrupting a few architects doesn’t affect the economy in the least, and if nothing else will probably get a good chuckle from the folks at the job site. However, I do think there is some blue collar monkey business that should at least be discussed.
I worked with ironworkers who made $100k a year with a suspect high school education and some jail time under their belt. I wasn’t making that much with a master’s degree in engineering and 7 years experience. They also had union benefits which are pretty damn good. I also worked on a job were a likely illegal immigrant from Mexico was making $90k a year as a labor forman – far more than any of the project engineers with degrees in construction management, civil engineering, and construction science.
I know that getting these folks back to work is very important, but just because the white collar people have more formal education and work in a squeaky clean office doesn’t mean they are except from the phone bill and it also doesn’t mean that they’ll make plenty of money when things do pick back up again.
The point is that the folks that work in the field on construction sites are doing just fine. And if they get about 10-15 hours of overtime in per week, they are doing better than fine – they’re kickin’ butt. They work hard, and they deserve to get paid and get back to work, but office folk work hard as well and often it’s for less money than the field guys.
Screw college man, we should just go erect steel.
Tags: Construction blog, Construction Economics, John Poole, White Collar
Well said, but it doesn’t address the short term future. When the shovel ready projects are winding down, then what? With no design funding for infrastructure needs, the construction industry will be sitting on its collective hands until the design profession gets back up to speed, andbegins to produce. Highway projects can take 2 or more years to bring to a construction ready state. Complex water and wastewater facilities might take longer. And this occurs after the planning studies and land acquisition phases. Oh, don’t forget permitting. Without starting design now, we are looking at another downturn in 2 years.
People with an professional / technical background need to look ahead and be 1 or 2 years ahead of the next trend. For example:
Intelligent Buildings: The next generation of real estate and building services will turn the workplaces into environments that are personalized, efficient, functional & profitable.
The challenge is to be ready for these market opportunities. Real estate establishments may benefit from improved use of innovation, available in the marketplace, to advance productivity, increase profits, differentiate services and streamline operations. It will be important to support new requirements, lifestyles, and end-user demands. Providing new value-added services are essential to attract new tenants, buyers and keep existing ones. Employees must have access to information and tools that improve responsiveness, accountability and productivity. Building performance must be improved to reach profitability goals and to comply with increasingly stringent energy management requirements and emerging green legislation. Developers must think beyond traditional services and identify the desired purpose, experience, and performance of each development.
Are your facts straight? I am not trying to be a jerk, but I don’t see how this makes total sense!
I think my facts are relatively straight…..does anyone think otherwise?
It’s funny that you finally spoke up! I have been waiting for someone to bring this out to the open! Anyway… nice post. I will be back.
Our country was also hit hard by the Economic Recession. At least we are seeing some signs of economic recovery now. I hope that we could recover soon from this recession.
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Tell me about it. I realized too late that the numbers just don’t work in architecture. $80k and four years for a masters on top of my undergrad, then get out of school to earn $35-50k a year in a highly cyclical market with outrageous housing costs? Five years later, barely making $65k? Only to be laid off and in search of a new job every two years on average?
I’ve always maintained that if owners would pay architects sufficiently to do a good job, rather than a quick one, they would save more than the additional fee on the construction cost. But after working for the owners’ side, I know that owners don’t think that way, because design costs are often paid for with hard cash but construction costs are borrowed and amortized.
Design is a crap business model. Remind me why I love it?
Unemployed,
Architects are severely underpaid..bottom line. It’s why a lot of people working in construction got out of architecture. It’s kind of an over-saturated field and owners what design cheap, not good. That’s because owner’s typically don’t know jack about what makes a good construction project. Anyway, if architects and contractors partner on construction and development projects more, I think it will work out better financially for everybody.
Our country had been so much affected by this Economic Recession. there are lots of job cuts and company shutdowns. We are seeing some signs of economic recovery right now and we hope that it would continue.
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