You thought you had it bad! - try the USA

[BAJR Host]

And you thought you had it bad! - try the USA

Check out these threads on Pay and conditions in the USA
at Archaeology Fieldwork

Let's discuss fair compensation and CRM.
http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com/foru....php?t=612

Field technicians: what is your current hourly wage?
http://www.archaeologyfieldwork.com/foru....php?t=147

well I have stuck my oar in too now... we are not alone and not the worst off.. lets support our digger/shovelbum friends across the pond!

here is one response I made. (harsh or what??)

quote-III Associates
Pay scale starts at $1950/month. All positions include paid holidays and other standard benefits. These positions also include additional health and welfare compensation. Transportation to and from job locations is provided from Salt Lake City. Meal reimbursement and lodging are provided on workdays.

BAJR thoughts ..Pretty low… … Lodging, holiday and welfare and being taken to site are rights not perks.

quote:CCRG's Jackson
Hourly rate for experienced field techs is $13.00 per hour.
Housing will consist of single occupancy motel rooms. We will cover motel rooms on weekends for those who live a distance from the project area. Per diem stipend $30.00 per work day will be provided up front at the beginning of each week. No receipts are required for spent per diem.

BAJR thoughts ..Pretty low… … at least they pay for accommodation in a motel over weekend… but any other perks?.

quote: PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff)
Requirements include a degree in Anthropology/Archaeology or a related field with a field school; one or more years of CRM experience is preferable. Wage rates for technicians are $11-$13/hour dependent on experience. Wage rates for field directors are $15-$20/hour dependent on experience. Work weeks will be Monday through Friday, eight hours a day. Some weekend excavation is possible.

BAJR thoughts ..Very low… … For what is required you don’t want much and do you get overtime (at time and a half or double time) for weekend work? Accommodation? Transport?

I note that they can provide something – but why does it sound like a perk?:

quoteB America offers a competitive pay and benefits package, including paid
sick/vacation time, 10 paid holidays, medical and life insurance.

10 paid holidays?? Blimey in UK – have just managed to push for 20 + 7 statutory public holidays.

quote:Massachusetts Archaeological Professionals
Looking to start mid/end of April, dependent upon weather and field
conditions, and lasting a minimum of 3-4 months. Pay rate of
$10.00/hr and up dependant upon experience. No per diem, travel or
lodging.

BAJR thoughts ..this is my favourite (joke)… ! 10 bucks with no travel, lodging or anything… do you sleep in the trench? At those wages.. you might have to.


AS has been said many times… I though the UK was bad… but boy you got it tough. Most of the adverts I looked at would either just scape into a lowest job category or not make it at all. We are professionals.. we need to be treated like professionals


"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[i_love_rocks]

The situation is comparable if not worse in Germany. Contract archaeology here is a comparatively recent phenomenon and therefore there is no standard in terms of pay or conditions across the board, although the situatio differs from federal state to state and in how far the local/ state authorities care about site workers.
Recent exampls include either 10 Euros per hour on payroll (site assistant). A supervisor (wiss. Mitarbeiter) is advertised for 12.50 Euros/ hour self-employed, which after tax and insurance can work out far less then the 10 Euros a site assistant gets. Project officers can expect a whooping 16 Euros/ hour on an eight weeks contract...
I also recently saw one advert for site assistants for 5 Euros/ hour...
Many excavations also like to employ students as site assistants who are only allowed (for tax reasons) to work a maximum of 20 hours a week, which means that one might end up working with a different team of site assistants every day of the week.
But hey, since these folks are only there to shovel and pickaxe and are not allowed to do any recording whatsoever I guess it is assumed that its 'ok'...

[BAJR Host]

Good Grief.... theres work to be done!

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[roywhiting]

Quote:
10 paid holidays?? Blimey in UK – have just managed to push for 20 + 7 statutory public holidays

This is not unusual for the US - 10 days only is the statutory minimum which firms are obliged to offer their employees (or so I've heard). We have it really easy by comparison. Personally I feel hard done by with 24 days entitlement. My former colleagues at my local LPA are entitled to 32 days as they've been there since the Great Flood. Moan, moan, complain etc.........

[tom wilson]

I understand that the Yanks have more statutory days than us, so they generally get at least 20 days off per year. However, since most British companies don't include statutory in the 20 day minimum we're generally better off in practice.

Do you get both of the Queen's birthdays off Roy, or is that just a rumour?

There are lots of unavoidable reasons why diggers in USA will have a tougher time. Working in Wales or Ireland is a lot easier than calling a whole continental coast your circuit, as seems common (and unavoidable). Also, the not-very-interesting stratigraphy intimated by a couple of people is harder to justify as skilled labour (i.e. properly paid) than urban strat, waterlogged timbers etc. that British archaeologists learn to cope with.

[Tim]

And don't forget the US is cheaper to live in than the UK.



"Freedom of ideas is one thing, freedom of the purse is quite another". Edward Harris

[roywhiting]

quote:Originally posted by tom wilson

I understand that the Yanks have more statutory days than us, so they generally get at least 20 days off per year. However, since most British companies don't include statutory in the 20 day minimum we're generally better off in practice.

Useful link - http://london.usembassy.gov/rcpubhol.html - they do indeed seem to do quite well on the public hol front

quoteo you get both of the Queen's birthdays off Roy, or is that just a rumour?

Ah ha......no, but I wouldn't mind :-(

[Digger]

Ah Roy- but then you did sell your soul to the dark side! I seem to use up my leave for training. Sux a bit when your also paying for it.

[mercenary]

The cost of living difference between N. America and the UK is critical on this issue. It is very difficult to describe to those who have only lived in the UK just how bloody expensive it is here. When I got archaeology work here fresh off the boat from N. America I thought I was rich beyond my dreams (Yes, really, on an archaeology wage no less)because I calculated that my wage converted to dollars was about 50% higher than before. What I was foolishly neglecting was that everything costs pretty much double what it does in N. America. The exchange rate is a very poor indicator of relative monetary value.

[BAJR Host]

we need indicators then....

Average wage of a Construction Worker.

Price of fags
Price of Milk
Loaf of Bread
Normal bus fare
Standardish Monthly rent.



"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu