KOREAN CONSTRUCTION JOB MARKET FORECAST FOR CIVIL/ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERS

In the early 90's, we had serious shortage of construction engineers in Korea. The shortage was acute especially in construction quality control and supervision area, which were gaining social attention due to the road bridge and the department store collapse that took the hundreds of lives in the early 90's in Seoul, Korea. In order to meet the high demand of construction engineers, the engineering license regulations were changed in 1995. Engineers who did not pass the written exam but have equivalent working experience are given engineering license to practice engineering legally. Since year 2000, while the severe engineer-shortage has been resolved, the opposite situation has occurred: there is serious over-supply of construction engineers. Policy makers and engineering practitioners are agreed to bring back the old-fashioned written exam engineer licensing system like before 1995, i.e., no more written exam exemption. However, the engineers who obtained license without taking written exam may not want to go back to old policy which would take their license. It is required to provide appropriate grace period before the new policy takes effect to minimize the impact of the changes. This paper forecasts the supply-demand of construction engineers providing the basis for the most appropriate policy changes.