One year on from the onset of the pandemic lockdowns, the Association of Consulting Architects is conducting its fifth “pulse check” survey to gauge how the industry is faring.
The organization’s initial surveys in March 2020 revealed the seismic impact of the pandemic on architecture practices, with more than $5 billion worth of work cancelled.
By October 2020, the ACA’s fourth survey had found that $10 billion worth of work had been cancelled or delayed; two-thirds of responding practices had had losses in revenue, and more than 80 percent of practices had relied on the federal government’s wage subsidy scheme, Job Keeper, to prevent staff redundancies or stand downs.
Since then, hard lockdowns have largey ended and Job Keeper has ceased. The survey asks whether the end of wage subsidy has resulted in staff redundancies.
It seeks to gauge how the industry has changed, in terms of workplace arrangements, workplace wellbeing, the level of new staff employed over the past year, the level of financial assistance received, and amount of work in the pipeline.
Broadly, Australia’s job market is recovering. The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that unemployment has fallen to 5.6 percent, from its peak of 7.5 percent in June 2020, which is almost back to the pre-pandemic level of 5.2 percent.
Data from online job advertiser Seek shows that job advertisements in the design and architecture sector in March 2021 was 17.4 percent above February 2021.
The ACA survey will be live from 27 to 30 April.
