British Archaeological Jobs and Resources

Survey of Archaeological Contractors – 1st May 2009

The second BAJR jobs survey of 60 smaller companies and “sole traders”,
who employ over a thousand people or a third of those employed in
commercial archaeology etc, has again shown that there are some grounds
for optimism. Twenty eight per cent of companies polled say they have had
an increase in orders and twenty one percent of companies are recruiting.

This has to be put into the context of the situation in December of last year
and January where there appeared to be an abyss of archaeological
employment. Indeed there was the spectre for the first time in 10 years that
there would not be a single job advertised on BAJR. The first BAJR survey
was undertaken because David and myself felt that the IFA survey told what
we knew had happened but not what was going to happen. Equally we felt
that our businesses did not reflect the total crisis that people were talking
about.

Only 1 UK based contractor has made people redundant in the last three
months but the same contractor is intending making more redundancies in
the next three months. Redundancies are continuing in Ireland.

The consultancies are generally holding their own, have an increase in work
(43% of companies), and recruitment is on the agenda for that 43% of
companies. This is perhaps indicative of projects beginning to be re-started.
The contracting units are starting to see a similar trend perhaps reflecting
the time lag between consultancies being engaged and archaeological
fieldwork being undertaken.

What is clear is that the situation is far from disastrous.

However; the spring is a time of year for an increase in archaeological work

and development commences so it is unclear how far this increase in the
amount of work is simply the seasonal norm. There is some evidence for this
in that while jobs for field staff are being advertised these are relatively
uncommon.

It is clear that the current trading conditions are far from easy and small
companies etc face continuing difficulties not least bad debt and poor cash
flow but what it is also clear is it is far less likely that we are facing total
wipe out of the archaeological industry. We also note that the situation is
far from easy for the many people who have lost their jobs or for new
graduates. We can only hope that things do improve and more normal
trading conditions emerge within six months. It also has to be remembered
that the market for archaeology has more or less been expanding
continually for many years and it is unlikely that this will continue in any
event.

Peter Wardle
 British Archaeological Jobs and Resources

Raw Figures 

Redundancy  

work in Short 

work in Long 
since March 

in 3 months 

Community 
Planned for 

Increase in 

Increase in 

Increase in 

Employing 
Pickup  of 

new Staff 
enquiries 

Pickup of 
Number 

Post‐ex 

Term 

Term 
Type of 
Company 

Consultancy  7    0  0    3  0  1  3  7    3 
Contracting  40    4  3    12  17  12  20  32    8 
Geophysics  4    0  0    0  ‐  1  0  4    0 
Other  3    0  0    1  ‐  2  2  3    1 
Post Ex   3    1  1    ‐  ‐  ‐    ‐  3    ‐ 
Survey  1    0  0    ‐  ‐  ‐    ‐  ‐    ‐ 
Total  58    5  4  16  17  16  25  49  12 
                           
                           
Percentages of Total 
Redundancy  

work in Short 

work in Long 
since March 

in 3 months 

Community 
Planned for 

Increase in 

Increase in 

Increase in 

Employing 
Pickup  of 

new Staff 
enquiries 

Pickup of 
Number 

Post‐ex 

Term 

Term 
Type of 
Company 

Consultancy      ‐  ‐    43%    14%    43%  100%    43% 

Contracting      10%  8%    30%  43%  30%    50%  80%    20% 
Geophysics      ‐  ‐    ‐    25%      100%     
Other      ‐  ‐    33%    67%    67%  100%    33% 
Post Ex      33%  33%    ‐          100%     
Total      9%  7%  28% 29% 28% 43%  84%  21% 

The questions asked: 
1. Have you made people redundant since March 09  
2. Are more redundancies planned in the next three months  
3. Have you seen an increase in general enquiries in the last month?  
4. Have you seen an increase in Post Excavation Work?  
5. Have you seen an increase in Community Work?  
6. Do you feel that the potential for work will pick up?  
Short term :   Longer term :  
7. Are you looking for new staff