Expert: Ralph Salier - 8/21/2010

Question
Hi I've been trying to find out what the archaeological career demands have been like over the past 5 years and I can only seem to find things saying there are more people wanting to be archaeologists than the demand for them is. I can't find anything more specific. Can you help?

Answer
Hi Rachel,

There have always been more archaeologists then jobs.  One reason is that it pays poorly.  A shovel bum MUST travel to find work and then it is for sporadic periods of time and duration.  A well paid shovel bum may make any where from $15 to $25/hr plus per-diem if lucky.  A supervisor somewhat higher then this.  IT tends to be very seasonal and dependent on the state of the economy.  In 2008,  the demand was surprisingly high and thus far 2009 and 2010 has been lousy.  One place to see what the trends are (sort of) is on www.shovelbums.org.  This is a jobs clearing house for archaeology jobs around the country and they even have field school listings.  Most end up finding other kinds of work and it is always a good idea to have a backup plan given the general lack of opportunities.  

One caveat, the number of jobs out there are 10x higher then 30 years ago so you have a much better chance today then I did 30-40 years ago.

I know that this does not sound good but it is the way it is.  Sorry.