There is a surplus of more than 1,000 architects, civil engineers and surveyors in the jobs marketplace, new research reveals today.

The Clarius Skills Index, which measures the demand and supply of skilled workers, fell 0.4 points to 99.0 in the September quarter for building and engineering professionals, including architects, surveyors and civil engineers.

While the index remains significantly lower than the 103.7 recorded at the same time last year, the decline is far less dramatic than that experienced in March when it lost a massive 2.6 points.

Building and engineering associate professionals, including architectural associates, dropped 0.3 points to 99.1 in September compared to June with an oversupply of a further 1,000 professionals.

A score of 100 indicates equal tension between labour supply and demand. Anything greater than 105 on the skills shortage side of the Index is regarded as extreme. A score of 95 to 98 is moderate.

The situation is set to worsen in 2010 with many companies facing grim prospects especially if the commercial sector fails to recover, Nathan Crawford-Condie, from engineering and construction recruitment specialists Southtech Personnel, said.

“Many of our clients have told us the stimulus money has kept a roof over their heads since June. After some job cuts earlier in the year, the stimulus has allowed them to maintain cash flow and hold onto remaining staff,” he said.

“While Canberra has been extremely helpful, the reality is that most of the stimulus money in the market today is for short term projects of up to six months. Beyond Christmas, there’s not a lot of work in the pipeline for many companies.”

Crawford-Condie said the big question mark hanging over the industry was the length of time it would take the commercial building sector to fill the void that will be eventually left by federal spending.

“Building school halls and sports centres can only last for a short period and our clients are concerned there may not be enough commercial work to support employee retention let alone hiring additional staff,” he said.

However, there are some positive signs emerging with an increased demand for building estimators. This suggests the big construction firms are expecting to see an increase in projects on their books in the coming months.

“Overall, however, there’s not a lot of recruitment happening at present but we are hopeful these very early signs auger well for 2010 in the all important commercial sector,” Crawford-Condie said.