Working in archaeology in a changing world: Australian archaeology at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

Mate, Geraldine, and Ulm, Sean (2021) Working in archaeology in a changing world: Australian archaeology at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian Archaeology, 87 (3). pp. 229-250.

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View at Publisher Website: https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2021.19...
 
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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the global labour market, including the Australian archaeological profession. This, the fourth in a series of comprehensive surveys of Australian professional archaeologists undertaken in early 2020, provides longitudinal data on trends in the state of the archaeological profession in Australia. Findings include the early impacts of COVID-19. Headline results show a young (average age 42 years), well-qualified (92% holding an Honours degree or higher), well-renumerated (average salary AUD102,430) workforce focused on Indigenous archaeology (65%), working in the private sector (60%), and predominantly based on the eastern seaboard (78%). Longitudinal data show an expanding archaeological industry in Victoria and a softening of demand in all other states and territories, particularly Western Australia. Sex and age data show a profession dominated by females (58%) with increasing numbers of young females in the career pipeline (average age of males 46 years and females 40 years). Indigenous participation rates in professional archaeology remain low (1.9%). The impact of COVID-19 had a considerable effect on confidence in stability or growth in the coming year, with a slump of 15% across the profession after the declaration of the pandemic. But confidence remained positive at 58% overall. Data show slowing wages growth (6.5% over 5 years compared to the national average of 11.4%) and a continuing profound gender pay gap of 18.8%, or on average males taking home $17,800 more than females.

Item ID: 69790
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 0312-2417
Keywords: Australian archaeology; archaeological profession; COVID-19 labour market impacts; archaeological skills; skill gaps; archaeology teaching and learning
Copyright Information: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way
Funders: Australian Archaeological Association Inc.
Date Deposited: 26 Oct 2021 22:53
FoR Codes: 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4501 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and history > 450101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology @ 50%
43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4301 Archaeology > 430107 Historical archaeology (incl. industrial archaeology) @ 25%
43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4301 Archaeology > 430108 Maritime archaeology @ 25%
SEO Codes: 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280113 Expanding knowledge in history, heritage and archaeology @ 100%
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