One Last Goodbye; 2009 By the Numbers

collier1960 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:07:55 +0000

Intending to sound light-heartedly optimistic, I’ve been using the phrase, “What happened in ’09, stays in ’09”. For me personally this includes a lay-off, half a year looking for a replacement position, and having to relocate out-of-state to secure work; all the while remarking, “I haven’t seen anything like this in the quarter century I’ve been an Architect.”

I know I’m not the only one.

Some troubling numbers have crossed my screen lately (and you’ve probably seen them via my Tweets @collier1960). These numbers include #1; the position of the architectural profession on a recent list of hardest hit job sectors, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Top-Nine List) .

Another disconcerting number is 41,000; the total of U.S. architectural jobs lost in the first three quarters of 2009.

Then there’s the number 17.8, which is the percentage of architectural unemployment corresponding to the thousands of lost jobs.

Another percentage number, 13.4, is the anticipated decline in U.S. construction activity in 2010, according to the AIA Consensus Construction Forecast.

And there is similar poor news in Britain, according to the Architects Journal .

Happy New Year

Well, enough is enough, right? It’s time for a new beginning. Let us use the idiosyncrasies of the Gregorian calendar – by which we call this a New Year – and set about to make some positive change.

If you are unemployed or underemployed, what are you going to do differently this year?
If you are working on your own, how are you planning to overcome in 2010?
If you own or manage a firm, same question…

Please share your resolutions to make the coming 12 months better than the last 12.

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One Last Goodbye; 2009 By the Numbers