Recession - managing and planning

IfA Recession Plan

The IfA recognises that the sector is currently experiencing difficulty as a result of the economic climate. Following a meeting of Executive committee on 17 December 2008 and Council on 14 January 2009, a number of measures were put in place to assist IfA members and Registered Organisations

The Recession Plan can be downloaded here.

Job Losses in Archaeology - information gathering

Late in 2008, anecdotal information was coming to the attention of the IfA that the economic decline, and in particular the slump in housing construction, was having a negative impact on commercial archaeological practice.

Together with FAME (the Federation of Archaeological Managers and Employers), IfA has approached a selection of archaeological employers to gather statistical data on any job losses in the sector in order to substantiate the impact of the current economic situation and to support the archaeological profession as a whole through this period of uncertainty.

We have found that the economic downturn has had a direct effect upon archaeology. While over the previous five years, the number of people working in archaeology had been expanding by approximately 4% per annum, many archaeological organisations lost staff over the three months to the end of 2008.

In total, 345 archaeological jobs may have been lost in the quarter from 1st October 2008 to 1st January 2009, representing 8.6% of the jobs in commercial archaeology and 5.0% of the entire UK archaeological workforce.

Larger organisations (those that were employing over 50 staff in 2007) have been particularly heavily affected.

Significant numbers of organisations anticipate further job losses in the quarter to the end of March 2009. Most of the organisations that anticipate further losses have already lost staff in the period to 1st January 2009.

Business confidence is very poor, with most employers expecting the situation to further deteriorate in 2009 and for some archaeological practices to cease trading.

The report covering the last quarter of 2008 can be downloaded here.

IfA repeated this survey in April 2009, a further 195 jobs are estimated to have been lost from the profession in the period from 1 January 2009 to 1 April 2009. Since the summer of 2007, approximately 670 jobs have been lost. This figure represents 1 in 6 (16.5%) of all commercial archaeological posts, which equates to nearly 10% of all the jobs in professional archaeology that existed in 2007.

At least one archaeological practice has ceased trading.

Smaller organisations (employing less than 20 people) have been most heavily affected in the first three months of 2009; in the final quarter of 2008, it was larger organisations (employing more than 50 people) that were hardest hit.

Further job losses are anticipated in the quarter to the end of June 2009. The employers of 25% of the staff at all respondent organisations do not expect to be able to maintain current staffing levels. This remains very significantly high, although it is a marked reduction from the January 2009 figure, when the organisations employing 66% of the total number of archaeologists working for respondents expected to lose staff.

Business confidence remains poor (although not at as such low levels as were reported in January 2009), with most employers expecting the situation to deteriorate further in the coming twelve months and for more commercial archaeological businesses to cease trading.

These job losses mean that the profession is losing skilled workers. Fieldwork skills are being lost, with the skills of junior fieldworkers (contributors to excavation, historic building and other surveys) being particularly badly affected.

The report covering the first quarter of 2009 can be downloaded here

The majority of employers surveyed in July 2009 have continued to either lose staff or remain unchanged in staff numbers over the first quarter of 2009-10 (figures to 1st July 2009), although these losses were almost exactly offset by a small number of employers taking on staff in this period. This means that, while technically there has been a small increase in the number of people working, effectively there has been neither a net loss nor a net gain in the total number of people working in archaeology over the period 1 April – 1 July 2009.

However, this can probably not be seen as the end of the downturn. Even those employers who have taken on staff – which are typically linked to specific infrastructure projects – expect this to be a relatively short-term alleviation. It is thus likely to represent a plateau in an ongoing pattern of job losses.

The report covering the second quarter of 2009 can be downloaded here we will continue to trackchanges in the situation until further notice.

Archaeological employment has seen a slight “bounce” over the last six months, which has been initiated through capital investment in infrastructure projects. Over the three months to 1 October 2009 there was a moderate increase in the numbers of archaeologists in employment.

Recovery has been led by major archaeological contractors working ahead of road-building projects in the midlands and the south of England. As it is uncertain whether projects like these will be replicated in the future, or whether other development work will recover, business confidence remains fragile. Fewer employers expect to be able to maintain current staffing levels than did in July 2009, although slightly more employers expect market conditions to improve in the next year than expect them to deteriorate.

However, the overwhelming majority of respondents expect further archaeological businesses to fail in the next twelve months. Fieldwork skills continue to be those that are being most commonly lost by organisations.

The latest report can be downloaded here.

IfA Recession Seminar - February 2009 - Museum at Docklands, London

As mentioned in the Recession plan, IfA organised a seminar to discuss ways of for individuals and organisations can best plan to survive the recession. The following is a brief report of the day.

Report of the day

Text of Noel Fojut's presentation

Powerpoint of Kenneth Aitchison's presentation

Text of Kenneth Aitchison's presentation

Alister Dryburg's Leadership paper and Lean not mean paper

Handout from the Alister Dryburg's presentation

Text of Stewart Bryant's presentation

IfA/ALGAO/FAME meeting

On 23 March 2009, representatives of IfA, ALGAO and FAME met to agree how the three organisations will work together to get through the recession. The minutes of this meeting can be downloaded here

Note for Administrators and Liquidators of Archaeological Organisations

IfA hopes that none of its members will ever need to refer administrators and liquidators to an advice note on what to do when an archaeological organisation becomes insolvent or goes into administration, but should that situation arise information is now available from IfA.

The note can be downloaded here. Please contact us if you have any questions or require further help and advice.