The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recently put out a call for evidence for the “UK Shortage Occupation List”. FAME and CIfA respond to their form with the following entry:
Consultation questions:
- Please indicate from which of these industries are you providing evidence? (Please select all that apply).
Mining and Quarrying Activities
Construction
Other – Archaeology
- If you wish, you can provide details of individual jobs titles you/your members have found hard to fill in the boxes below (maximum of 10). Please help us by matching the job titles you have provided with the closest standardised ONS job title and associated 4-digit occupation (SOC) code using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Occupation Tool –https://onsdigital.github.io/dp-classification-tools/standard-occupational-classification/ONS_SOC_occupation_coding_tool.html. There is also space to list the sector(s) where shortages of candidates to fill these job titles has been most acute. If providing this information, please refer to the list in question 24.
Job titles (1 per line)
Archaeologist
Assistant Archaeologists
Supervisor (Archaeology)
Project Officer (Archaeology)
Project Manager (Archaeology)
Archaeological Scientists
Archaeological Consultant
Closest ONS job title
Archaeologist (Social and Humanities Scientists)
Closest ONS occupation code (4 digit)
2114 (Social and Humanities Scientists)
Sector(s) most affected:
Archaeology, Construction,
- What do you think are the main reasons for job shortages (answered in the question above), and or wider shortages in the sector(s)? (Not to exceed 500 words).
In 2013, the number of archaeologists working in the UK hit a 15 year low. However, since 2014 the whole sector has increased by over 50%. In the construction-led sector this has been almost 100%, as development rates and infrastructure spending have risen above pre-financial crisis levels. A number of flagship national infrastructure projects with significant archaeological implications have driven particularly acute demand. These projects include Crossrail, the A14 improvements, and High Speed 2.
There are now more archaeologists working in the UK commercial archaeology sector than ever before (an estimate of 4,908 in the roles highlighted in this response). This is a growth of 12.8% in the financial year 2017-18. The commercial sector also grew by 13.2% in the year 2016-17. The majority of archaeological businesses report that they are expecting to expand significantly in the next year (2018-19).
To take a single example, the archaeological work which is set to begin along the route of High Speed 2 in the year 2019/20 is expected to require an additional 1000 employees, in the roles proposed to be added to the Shortage Occupation Lists in this response. This would push the job demand up to over 140% in four years. One company, Headland Archaeology, is preparing to recruit an estimated 125 employees in 2019/20, to supplement their core staff of 90 FTE.
While the sector has relied on UK workers for much of this unprecedented growth, archaeological companies have had to use non-UK EAA workers to fill gaps in provision as many UK archaeologists who left the profession during and after the financial crisis are no longer seeking work in the sector. They now constitute roughly 15% of the workforce. This is a 500% increase of the 2-3% that they have historical constituted since the 1990s. For example, the CIfA Registered Organisation Allen Archaeology employs 19% non-UK staff from EU countries, this is despite this organisation winning an award from the Archaeology Training Forum for its training provision, which has represented a substantial real terms investment from the business.
Research by Historic England in 2016 estimated that infrastructure demand, like HS2, would create a jobs shortage in archaeology, with projections to 2023. This could impact on the timely delivery of infrastructure and development projects. Historic England concluded that this was a highly credible threat that required immediate action. This research did not address the impact of leaving the EU and loss of free movement of labour for qualified archaeologists which is currently expected to occur in March 2019 (see our answer to q.9 for more information).
The sector has responded with an extensive expansion in domestic training programmes but has not been able to cope with the 100% increase in three years and will certainly continue to see the rate of growth outpace ability to train new archaeologists top fill the potential 1000+ jobs required in the next year. The majority of archaeological contractors are small businesses who have not been realistically able to engage with government training programmes like Trailblazer.
- Please explain what measures have been taken to reduce shortages in the sector as informed by your members and or research. (Not to exceed 500 words).
We understand that access to non-UK labour does not provide a sustainable solution for labour shortages in archaeology and the sector has been working hard to increase training provision and diversify entry routes into the profession. Efforts to do this include development of;
- Trailblazer Apprenticeships – a level 3 Archaeological Technician and a level 7 Archaeological Specialist apprenticeship have been developed through the government scheme.
- Innovative employer recruitment training provision – for example, online training platforms hosted across major sector employers and diversified recruitment strategies have been invested in and adopted.
- Development of professional accreditation of vocational degree programmes – is underway designed to increase the number of graduates finishing university with the necessary skills to immediately enter the workplace.
- Rising wages offered – Overall figures show that wages have risen with inflation, but anecdotal evidence from employers indicated that high demand projects have seen considerably higher salaries offered.
- Have these measures worked, if not why? (Not to exceed 500 words).
These measures have contributed to meeting 65% of the unprecedented job demand over the last four years, the other 35% being covered by EAA workers coming to the UK to fill the gaps. This rapid growth is beyond anything ever seen in archaeology. Records going back to 1922 have never shown such rapid growth in the profession.
This historic demand has overwhelmed the traditional routes into archaeology, mainly through a University degree – 97% of archaeologists have a degree, over 50% have a postgraduate degree. Increasing a highly educated and skilled workforce by over 100% in three to four years is not something that the University sector is equipped to handle. It takes two to three years to recognise that there is a jobs shortage and then three years to over a decade to build up the pipeline of students. However, data from the Higher Education Statistical Agency shows that the number of students undertaking archaeology has not increased.
The traditional pipeline of the archaeological workforce has not responded to the increased demand. The sectors efforts have thus focussed on training up archaeologists through non-traditional routes. However, while the UK unemployment rate is at its currently low rate, we are competing with many other sectors to recruit and train from the smallest pool of possible workers since 1975.
It is also important to consider the long-term sustainability of this market growth: Over the past 40 years, archaeology sector jobs have been subject to periods of significant growth and contraction, the boom and bust cycle of the construction sector. There is concern in the sector about producing archaeologists for roles which may not exist in 10 years time. Ireland is a good example of a country that has managed to deal with this boom and bust. During the their construction boom in the 2000s over half of their workforce was from outside of Ireland but now has moved back down to being mostly local. For this reason, we believe that access to non-UK labour during periods of intense market expansion is always likely to be important to help smooth out such extreme fluctuations in workforce demand. For the same reason, freedom of movement to work in other booming EU economies has been and would continue to be a useful way for UK archaeologists to ensure greater opportunity during periods of market contraction in the UK.
- Are the jobs that you have said are in shortage, open to eligible workers from the Tier 2 points-based visa system?
Yes
- If known, how many workers from outside of the UK have been recruited using the Tier 2 points-based visa system in the past 12 months, stating the job titles. (Not to exceed 500 words).
Outside of Universities, only three archaeologists have been recruited in the last few years.
The known job titles are:
- Project Officer
- Public Archaeologist
Our members have run into significant difficulties recruiting staff through the current Tier 2 route. Resident Market Labour Test has been a significant barrier to recruitment. Many of our members require staff on short notice and having to advertise jobs for 28 days + the time to interview and apply for a visa makes it impractical to handle this sort of recruitment needs. In many cases, by the time a person is in position projects have already been running for months. We support plans to scrap the RMLT, as outlined in the new immigration White Paper. Though given that our sector is facing a significant shortage next year we are hopeful that being included on the shortage occupation list will help bridge the gap between current supply and demand.
- If you have supporting evidence such as survey results from members please attach here. Please remember to omit sensitive details before attaching.
Evidence refereed to throughout this submission is drawn predominantly from the Archaeological Market Survey (Commissioned by CIfA and FAME, with research undertaken by Landward Research). The 2017/18 report is currently in production, although figures from this most recent evidence have been included in this response. This research can be accessed here: https://www.archaeologists.net/profession/profiling
The 2016 Historic England report National Infrastructure Development and Capacity 2015-33: An Assessment can be accessed here: https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=15848
- If you have any other information that might be useful for our call for evidence please use the space below to explain (Not to exceed 500 words).
The responses to this consultation are based on the assumption that the UK will be leaving the EU on 29 March 2019. The main impact of this will be to end freedom of movement impose new rules on immigration from the EU to the UK, as set out in the Government’s recent Immigration White paper.
One major concern for archaeologists results from this relates to the imposition of salary thresholds to serve as a proxy for skilled immigration which we do not feel is a satisfactory method for apportioning visas and could lead to a restriction on the sector’s ability to recruit tour ability to recruit skilled archaeologists. Current and proposed salary thresholds of £30,000 would be a barrier to the employment of many archaeological roles, where salaries are lower than this, despite being highly skilled. We therefore support mechanisms to ensure that high skilled but low paid workers be able to access visas.
For example, currently archaeology is classified as a PhD-level occupation, lowering minimum salary thresholds. Without a somewhat lowered salary threshold, this would be an enormous problem for archaeology, unless otherwise mitigated. We would also welcome the retention of reduced salary thresholds for roles on the shortage occupation list for the same reason.
An additional concern remains the additional cost that employers will face from greater bureaucracy created by having to use Tier 2 or similar administration processes. The cost of this should be considered as a factor which will impact the effectiveness of any post-Brexit immigration system.
There are, however, other issues which will become significant when the UK leaves the EU. For example, there is the issue of students from EU countries who are trained at UK universities who seek to enter the UK jobs market upon graduation. Furthermore, our members report that employing experienced archaeologists from EU countries has assisted in the development of new UK career entrants, fresh from training schemes of university, as their presence in teams have enabled effective skills sharing.
Finally, there remains a question mark over the status of current EU citizens employed by UK archaeological contractors after 29 March, and how these employees may be affected by the outcomes of Brexit agreement, or no deal scenario. Retaining the EU staff that are already employed will be a critical factor in ensuring that a shut-down of many major projects can be avoided. For example, Headland Archaeology employed over 70% of its staff on the A14 project from non-UK EU nations. Any short-term disruption post-Brexit could derail timescales and budgets for such major infrastructure projects.
