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:<\/p>\n
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Consultation questions:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Mining and Quarrying Activities<\/p>\n Construction<\/p>\n Other – Archaeology\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Job titles (1 per line)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Archaeologist<\/p>\n Assistant Archaeologists<\/p>\n Supervisor (Archaeology)<\/p>\n Project Officer (Archaeology)<\/p>\n Project Manager (Archaeology)<\/p>\n Archaeological Scientists<\/p>\n Archaeological Consultant<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Closest ONS job title<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Archaeologist (Social and Humanities Scientists)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Closest ONS occupation code (4 digit)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>2114 (Social and Humanities Scientists)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Sector(s) most affected:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Archaeology, Construction,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>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;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>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.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Yes<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Outside of Universities, only three archaeologists have been recruited in the last few years.<\/p>\n The known job titles are:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Evidence refereed to throughout this submission is drawn predominantly from the Archaeological Market Survey<\/em> (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<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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