Like billings levels, staffing at firms remains status quo

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[["a",["href","https:\/\/www.aia.org\/pages\/6669572-abi-august-2023-business-conditions-soften","target","_blank"]],["b"],["a",["href","https:\/\/aiau.aia.org\/courses\/2023-economic-update-4","target","_blank"]]],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"When surveyed\nfor the "],[0,[0],1,"AIA\/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI)"],[0,[],0," in July, four in 10\nfirm leaders considered their firms to be understaffed, prompting an August\nsurvey question on outsourcing work offshore. Economists were curious about\ntrends in outsourcing work, said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, Ph.D., Hon.\nAIA, considering trends from similar short-staffed times in the early aughts. "]]],[1,"blockquote",[[0,[],0,"\u201cThe last time\nwe had a real mismatch in terms of how many staff we needed was leading up to\nthe Great Recession,\u201d recalled Baker. \u201cAt the time, 15-20 years ago, there were\nmany firms reporting outsourcing work offshore. Subbing out work to\ninternational staff was so prevalent, so we asked a question about that as we are\nin a new period of staffing shortages.\u201d "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"History, Bakers\nsays, does not appear to be repeating."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cIt\u2019s a little\nless common than I might have expected, given that 40 percent of firms say they\nare currently under-staffed,\u201d said Baker. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Only 15 percent\nof firms polled report outsourcing work internationally, and only about a quarter of those who report outsourcing say\nthey do so frequently. In contrast, over half of firms surveyed report that\nthey have never seriously considered outsourcing domestic work to contract staff outside the United States. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Firms who are outsourcing\ntypically use contractors for tasks that have fewer potential legal\nimplications, such as renderings, drafting, presentations \u2013 not construction\ndocuments. They list efficiencies in costs and the convenience of different\ntime zones as reasons for looking beyond local architects. Several firms report\nthe international contractors they have recently hired are former employees who\nhave moved outside the United States after the COVID-19 pandemic. For firms\nthat have stopped outsourcing or are not considering offshore contractors,\nreasons range from quality control, legal concerns, inability to visit job\nsites, and desires and\/or contractual requirements to keep work in the U.S. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cThere is an\nemerging calmness out there in concerns over staffing. However, if we were to have\na sudden increase in design activity, firms may have to consider other options,\u201d\nsaid Baker. \u201cStill, if you are an architect currently looking for work, there\nare plenty of opportunities now, even with the current stable workloads that we\nare seeing across the country.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[]],[1,"p",[]],[1,"p",[[0,[1],1,"Save the date!"],[0,[],0," Join Kermit Baker, AIA\u2019s Chief Economist, on "],[0,[1],1,"Thursday, October 19"],[0,[],0," at "],[0,[1],1,"2 PM ET"],[0,[],0," to hear the next quarterly update of the industry\u0027s latest economic data and what firms are reporting. "],[0,[2],1,"Register for free \u003E"]]]]}