Will the Financial Crisis affect ArchitectureJobs in future?

[Caz]

As a final year architecture student, I am concerned about the possibility to find work when I finish - recent graduates I know can only find jobs where they work for free/miniscule amounts.

I have also been hearing of a number of design and architecture firms declaring bankruptcy/having to sell the business for financial reasons lately. For example my old work in Sydney.

Will this trend continue? Its a little daunting..

[solidred]

Yes. Current estimate 1-3 years. You'll also have a great deal of competition from older, more experienced people.
However, there will continue to be a market for fresh graduates with some up-to-date skills (computing stuff) and knowledge and a keen attitude unburdened by the cynicism which can drag the older crowd down (or 'as perceived' by potential employers at any rate).
It took me a year to get my first job after graduate school. I was an old-minded, megalomaniac cynic from day one, not full of revolution and changing the world but full of ideas, which weren't welcome
My advice? Consider your first few years out of school as part of your educational resume/development i.e. try subsidising it; your life, like your full time education and go for your dreams, not filler tracks on an album kinda stuff. My friends who left the same grad school as me who immediately found the financial wherewithal to carry their education forwards via competition entries and ignoring the 'employee' market have done, ultimately, far, far better than I. They had the chance to express their unique capacities in full whereas mine were subjected to a war of attrition.
Result? I'm an unemployed architect and one of those friends is currently building, not as a partner in some major firm but as principal of his own, one of the tallest buildings in the world...

[NLArch]

So I was going to just troll, however I have been sucked into posting haha.
The point you bring up is very credible in that all employment will undeniably experience a large decrease in the upcoming time period due to the economy.
I am currently a freshman student at the College of Arch. and Design at Virginia Tech. I plan on overcoming these economic problems by first off diversifying my portfolio, and secondly working over seas in possibly dubai. Ultimately an international, sort of globalization, of work should result in decent salaries for us up and coming architects..gl

[davidaneff]

I think the job market's going to be rough for a couple of years.

The silver lining is that if you can survive this, you're going to be in a strong position when the things pick up again. Some of your classmates will get discouraged and give up on the profession entirely. From what I hear, this happened in the early nineties and so many people left the profession that those who remained and those who entered in the years immediately following had an easy time getting work/promotions. Supposedly there's still a big demographic void in architects who are now ~40 years old. I think we're about to see a repeat of that phenomenon.