Economic Lay of Land Bad, ASLA Reports

Less than half of landscape architecture offices responding were busier than usual last quarter, and only a quarter of firms plan to hire in the short term as the economic turmoil begins to be felt across the profession, according to the latest Business Quarterly survey by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

Only 44 percent of the 267 responding landscape architecture offices reported average or above billable hours in third quarter 2008, (July 1 - September 30), and just under 43 percent reported average or above inquiries during the same period-12 and 7 percentage-point reductions, respectively, from the previous quarter. Additionally, just over 25 percent plan to hire in the upcoming quarter, down from 29 percent in the second quarter.
 
"The reduced demand for landscape architecture work comes as no surprise considering the current problems with the economy," said Nancy Somerville, executive vice president and CEO of ASLA. "International projects, particularly in the Middle East and Pacific Rim, are a strong and expanding source of work for many firms. Domestically, the public sector remains the most robust source of projects."
 
The survey also asked about landscape architects' perception of sustainability issues related to local, state and national government as well as in the 2008 election cycle. On a 1-10 scale, landscape architects rated local governments as most effective in championing sustainable solutions (5.54), followed by state governments (5.34) and federal (4.35). Overall, nearly half (48.3 percent) of landscape architects think sustainability issues currently play a larger role than the 2004 election while approximately three in ten (31.3 percent) think these issues are not a significant part of candidates' agendas.
 

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