22nd April 2005, 01:44 PM
I could quote similar statistics and I graduated 12 years ago. I don't think that most people who do archaeology as a degree intend to work in the profession after they graduate anyway. Many people do the degree purely because they want to obtain a Bachelor's in something that interests them whilst being able to leave Uni waving a qualification. People with archy degrees find themselves into all walks of life. Perhaps the limited reward found in field archaeology singles out the people who are more determined to succeed in the profession?
I'd also question the general assumption earlier that the amount of jobs being advertised means that there are plenty of people struggling to fill the vacancies. Surely this could just mean that there are more jobs being created in a growing and developing profession? I've seen a rich tapestry of employing and few jobs being re-advertised. Surely this means the positions are being filled by upwardly mobile archies? Oxford constantly advertise for managers, but they're constantly expanding...
I'd also question the general assumption earlier that the amount of jobs being advertised means that there are plenty of people struggling to fill the vacancies. Surely this could just mean that there are more jobs being created in a growing and developing profession? I've seen a rich tapestry of employing and few jobs being re-advertised. Surely this means the positions are being filled by upwardly mobile archies? Oxford constantly advertise for managers, but they're constantly expanding...