Project Management Weathers the Recession

Even as many professions cut back, project management proves buoyant, according to the 2009-2010 PMI Economic Pulse Survey.

8 June 2010

Project management jobs are proving to be largely resistant to the economy.

While organizations continue to cut or leave positions open, more than a quarter plan to hire project managers in 2010, according to the 2009-2010 PMI Economic Pulse Survey, a global study of 1,000.

“For project management, jobs that were lost will come back in the places that lost the most, like IT and financial services,” says Jason Dolfi, MBA, manager, market development, Project Management Institute (PMI), Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA.

“We’ll also see more jobs created in areas like healthcare, energy and legal sectors — areas that are ripe for growth,” he says. “We’ve seen more interest in project management and our membership has started to grow in these areas.”

The number of people who earned the Project Management Professional (PMP)^® credential in 2009 increased to 77,366, up from 56,096 in 2007.

“In a recession, it’s important that people are really competitive on an individual basis in the job market,” Mr. Dolfi says. “That increase was a reflection of the importance of standing out from the crowd as a project manager. Credentials are a way to do that.”

Not only are they a means for individual professional growth, Mr. Dolfi says, credentials also provide a salary boost in many countries. Project managers with PMP^® credentials earn an average of US$2,000 to US$16,000 more than their non-credentialed counterparts, according to the PMI 2009 Project Management Salary Survey.

Even during the recent economic crisis, many project managers received a jump in salary in 2009. Salary increases for project managers ranged from 33 percent in Hong Kong to 75 percent in Brazil.

Also on the rise are projects themselves, according to the Pulse Survey. Twenty-two percent of project managers surveyed said their companies were reviving canceled projects. With that, though, comes added pressure.

“The success of projects becomes even more important in challenging climates because they are under more scrutiny. You’re working with limited resources and including limited capital, so risk management and change management become very important,” Mr. Dolfi says.

“The words that we heard during the recession were ‘project optimization.’ Project managers get put in the spotlight when a lot is riding on these few projects,” he adds.

In fact, more than half of the respondents reported that their companies had not laid off any part- or full-time project managers due to economic conditions of the previous month.

Organizations clearly see the need for project management. They achieve their objectives through projects, Mr. Dolfi says, and improving economic conditions should translate to new projects — as well as jobs.

Worldwide government stimulus programs have also contributed to an uptick in project activity. Twenty-two percent of project managers surveyed are working on government-funded stimulus projects. Mr. Dolfi expects to see these projects continue with a focus on energy development.

And although no profession is truly recession-proof, Mr. Dolfi says project management becomes even more important in a downturn.

“During a recession, you need good project management more than ever — you need to engage your key stakeholders,” he says. “You need to optimize your resources, control your project budgets and have good risk management.” Project management provides the framework to accomplish these measures and a lot more.

As the global economy rebounds and the number of projects continues to rise, project management looks poised for continued growth. Before the recession, PMI research indicated an estimated 1 million new project management jobs would be created annually through 2016 across the globe.

“This certainly slowed down for the recession, but the growth is back and the trajectory is back on track,” says Mr. Dolfi. “The bright outlook for the profession is pretty clear.”