Structural Instability
By pandrewh
Tags: academic, building, career, civil, civil engineer, construction, economic, economy, education, employment, engineer, engineering, finance, industry, interview, job, labor, laid off, layoff, profile, recession, seattle, soundslide, story, structure, unemployment, usa, uw, washington
Category: Professional
Multimedia story by Andrew Hart. Click here to view.
Text by Nicole Ciridon
The U.S. employment of scientists and engineers has fallen by 6.3 percent in the last year. But overall employment has fallen only 4.1 percent. (BusinessWeek)
“Currently in our office we’re only working 20 hours a week unless we have a project to work on. So that’s basically half a salary and for a young family that’s not gonna cut it.” – Peter J. Hart Jr.
Civil engineer Peter J. Hart Jr. enjoys watching sports, making bad jokes and telling his sons what to do. An outdoorsmen, Hart spends his time going on walks with his wife Martha, doing chores and working.
These days, Hart has more leisure time on his hands. A civil engineer with CT Engineering, he works with contractors and architects to make sure buildings are built safe, strong and according to building codes. But due to the recession his company has seen a sharp decline in projects.
Banks have become more restrictive in issuing loans, which has decreased the amount of construction projects being undertaken. The impact is being felt across the construction industry. The lack of work hit the company hard last summer and now production is almost at a standstill.
Hart has seen several coworkers ask their wives to return to work, and although Hart maintains a 40-hour workweek, he only gets paid for about half of that. In addition, engineers are faced with an uncharacteristically high unemployment rate.
Despite the struggle, he remains positive, reflecting on how his work and house environment is more relaxing. Hart has taken time off to travel with his family and completed projects around the house.
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The pictures give a really intimate glimpse at the life of this engineer. Hope things pick up at the office – and with the economy!