AIA Compensation Report 2011: Not all Gloom and Doom for Architects

The on-going economic situation has impacted the salaries and jobs of workers in many professions. But, employees in the architectural industry are among those hit the hardest due largely to the downturn in construction. According to the US Department of Labor, payroll positions at architecture firms decreased by over 25% since 2007 while salaries have nearly levelled off.

The recently released AIA Compensation Report also has some positive findings. Over the past decade, compensation gains for architectural positions have more than kept pace with other professions. In fact, Architecture compensation has increased 32% compared to only 27% for all professions. To be fair, most of these gains occurred during the boom years between 2005 and 2008.

If you’re working for a large firm and have in-demand skills and credentials, you’re probably doing alright. Firms with fewer than 10 employees were generally paying staff 20 percent less than average while firms with more than 100 employees were paying 10 percent above average.

It comes as no surprise, but the survey also finds that architects with advanced degrees and expertise in in-demand skills such as building information modeling (BIM) tend to receive higher salaries.

Click here to read the full article on the AIA Compensation Report’s results and purchase the report through the AIA.

If you care to share any of your own experiences regarding compensation or how your firm has weathered the storm, please comment here.