The Sun-Times leads with the good news from a newly-issued report from the Chicago Loop Alliance: a growing residential population, more hotel rooms, parks and tourists.
And jobs in the Loop?
What the Loop has lost is jobs. State figures show it had 338,000 private-sector jobs in 2000, yet the 2010 total was 275,000. The decade covered two recessions that slashed the demand for office space.
Nearly 20% fewer private-sector Loop jobs in just a decade? Are Loop jobs going the way of dinosaurs?
Those are some scary numbers, though I’m wondering what the numbers look like if you expand to include areas immediately surrounding the Loop.
It’s all the out of work architects (but they’re mainly, or were, in River North).
Sheridan B,
What are all the unemployed architects doing these days?
It’s sad to see what appears to be years of young architect grads shut out of their profession.
No idea what the new grads are doing, but my friends are trying as best they can, hopefully have a spouse working and are taking care of kids if they have them or are pursuing any opportunity internationally that they can (Kosovo in the case of one) or looking outside the profession. On the other hand, many others have been lucky to remain working, at least part time.
Anecdotally there was a missing generation of architects in the 80s from recessions (and possible AIDS as well) and I think we are going to have a bigger “lost generation” than at anytime except the great depression, when there were at least make work programs. I suspect many new grads will never work in the profession. A while back I’d heard 1/2-2/3 of architects were unemployed but it’s now up to 3/4 according to what I hear – even from people in completely unrelated fields, which makes me think it’s really bad.
Or maybe they are heeding this advice;
http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/9543