Field Technician Pay Rates in the United States

A field technician (aka shovel bum) is a person hired to do archaeological fieldwork associated with a cultural resource management (primarily non-academic) project. It is the first job many archaeologists have, as part of their training; it is also, for some, a permanent employment choice. The pay rates for such individuals have never been fantastic, and long-term jobs with benefits are very hard to find.

In the UK, field technicians were able to unionize, more or less, and broker a substantial deal so that companies and individuals working in the field must ally with the Institute for Field Archaeology. The IFA represents archaeologists of all stripes, from students to scholars to company leaders. But in the United States, with a much more dispersed population, with myriad businesses involved in myriad projects with CRM components, and with professional organizations geared primarily towards the needs of principal investigators (such as the Register of Professional Archaeologists and the American Cultural Resources Association), unionizing efforts have failed to date.

Recently, a discussion on Jennifer Palmer's Archaeology Fieldwork has involved pay scales for US field technicians and highlights the problem.

• State of the Union: 2007 CRM Field Tech Pay Rates; Jennifer's forum member ScottyJ432 provides a compiled list of pay rates and benefits for 600+ jobs listed in the US for 2007
• What Is Good Pay for CRM?, is a discussion of how field techs might attempt to lobby for greater wages:

Contrast the situation in the UK, where the Institute for Field Archaeologists has recommended an across-the-board increase for field technicians and a deal will be negotiated:

• Salary Benchmarking Project Update (IFA)
• Pay deal latest, on the BAJR forum

Thanks to David Connolly of British Archaeological Jobs Resource (BAJR) for the tip.