The salaries of beginning architects and designers are below average

Prague - Most (85 percent) designers or architects do not reach even the average gross salary upon entering employment, which is now 25,179 CZK in the Czech Republic. Gross salaries, including bonuses, for up to 40 percent of university graduates are even lower than 20,000 CZK at the beginning of their careers. This stems from the latest Quarterly Analysis of Czech Construction Q1/2015, the partial findings of which were published today by CEEC Research and SGCP, a Weber division. These graduates will attain an average salary only after five years of experience.
    The pay of another 45% of new employees ranges between 20,000 to 25,000 crowns. A slightly better situation exists in the field of engineering project design. In this sector, one-fifth of newcomers earns 25,000 to 30,000 crowns. Only after five years of experience, according to the analysis, does a majority (57 percent) of graduates secure an income exceeding the average gross salary (25,000 to 35,000 crowns gross).
    Even job seekers in design offices or architectural studios do not earn significantly more upon entering. Only about one in ten (12 percent) receives a salary between 35,000 to 40,000 crowns. Only three people out of a hundred earn above this threshold. "During several years of devastation in the construction industry in recent years, this field has become unattractive. Many people have left the industry, and for students, project design is not promising. Training a designer takes years, so we are trying to retain the quality ones. There is, of course, pressure here; living costs are rising. We are selectively seeking a balance in wage demands, even though it is not easy," noted Ivo Kovalík, director of Arch.Design.
    According to Lukáš Hruboň, the sales director of Valbek, there is also a problem with the perception of hourly rates for various professions. "When I invite a person to my home to repair a boiler, I pay around a thousand and the man is gone in 40 minutes. When you have oil changed in your car, you pay about the same for turning a bolt on the oil pan, and no one even raises an eyebrow. However, when I write a similar hourly rate for an expert with thirty years of experience, who is responsible for hundreds of millions of crowns worth of construction with his authorization stamp in a tender, then I have no chance of succeeding," Hruboň claims.
    In the future, the Czech Republic could lack qualified designers and architects, as many graduates are expected to choose other professions. "It is sad that not only talented young people but also experienced technicians are leaving the field for financial reasons. The social prestige of a designer is not high, it is financially unattractive, and the outlook for improvement is not bright. Therefore, this represents an absolutely wasted investment by the state in technical intelligence, which it does not support, although it is a significant part of the engine of the economy, the culture of the nation, and the foundation of competitiveness," added Pavel Havlíček, CEO of Sudop Group.