Employment Opportunities and Future Skills Requirements for Surveying Professionals 2018-2021

This report was commissioned by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) to gain industry insight into current and future employment opportunities and skills requirements for construction, property and land surveying professionals. The report is a follow-up to the 2014 SCSI report “Employment Opportunities and Future Skills Requirements for Construction and Property Surveyors”, in which a significant shortage of qualified surveying professionals was identified. Since the 2014 report, the industry and economic landscape has changed significantly, and while many opportunities exist with FDI, several sectors are still suffering from under-investment during the downturn, particularly evident within the infrastructure and residential sectors. Ongoing limitations in the nationally available data relating to surveying employment gave rise to the need to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the sector, given the importance of surveying professionals within the built environment. The current report involves SCSI member practices where a single informant from every member firm was invited to participate in an online survey pertaining to current employment, drivers and constraints to employment growth and likely future employment. Future employment estimates were derived based on three scenarios of annual economic growth, optimistic (4%), median (3%) and pessimistic (2%). It is more likely that growth will take place around the median; however the optimistic rate is demonstrative of what may happen if growth occurs at a faster pace than forecast by the Department of Finance. To determine the future supply of surveyors, data was collected from every third level institution nationwide currently offering surveying programmes. Typically a surveying degree takes four years to complete; therefore it is the basis for determining the supply of surveying graduates between 2018-2021. Using demand projections from employers and supply of graduates from third level institutions, the market for surveyors at every level nationwide is analysed. It is assumed that as positions become vacant for experienced (post APC) surveyors that resultant vacancies will be filled with more junior staff, thus creating opportunities for graduates