The COVID-19 pandemic impacted industries around the world—and NCARB’s data suggests the field of architecture is no exception. For candidates working to become architects, the pandemic impacted everything from their day-to-day work to licensure goals. NCARB’s 2021 edition of NCARB by the Numbers features a special month-by-month look at the dramatic shifts the pandemic caused in the licensure pipeline.
The March 2020 closure of Prometric test centers, as well as limited appointment availability once test centers reopened, led to fewer Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) completions. And changes in demand for architectural services limited experience opportunities, leading to lower numbers of candidates submitting Architectural Experience Program® (AXP®) reports. Ultimately, NCARB saw a 40 percent decrease in the number of new architects compared to the previous three-year average.
NCARB will continue to monitor these trends to better understand the long-term impact of the pandemic on emerging architecture professionals. But so far in 2021, things are looking up: an early look at key statistics in June reveals that exam completions are on the rise, as is the number of newly licensed architects.
Learn more at ncarb.org/covid19-report.
