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Threats to Licensure: How Can They Be Avoided?

By: Trent J. Keenan, PLS

At the 2022 Western Regional Survey Conference, multiple panels focused on brainstorming some of the
current threats to the profession, and this is an abstract article based on these discussions.
It’s a fabulous time to make money as a land surveyor, but the honeymoon period won’t last forever.
Therefore, we must identify the various threats to licensure.

Threat #1: Too Few Licensed Land Surveyors
The number one threat to the licensed surveyor community is our aging
workforce. Licensed surveyors are aging out, and we are not recruiting enough
replacements.

According to NAICS Code 541370, the number of individuals in the land
surveying profession in the United States tops out at approximately 53,000.
However, of those 53,000, only 35,000 are licensed surveyors.

Many of those professionals due for retirement in the coming decade leave our
nation with a notable absence of licensed surveyors. This is worrisome as our
current workforce is already stretched thin, with many clients desperate to get
surveyors on the phone—some of them calling 20 different surveying offices
with no response.
According to the 2019 US Census Bureau data, there are about 7,200 surveying firms in the United States. 4,400 of those firms have
less than five employees, and 6,000 of them have less than 9 employees.

Mom and pop surveying operations do not need a lot of personnel. As a result, they often do not hire additional bodies until an existing
staff member retires. The problem is that once those staff members do retire, there will no longer be any newly licensed surveyors
ready to fill their shoes.
Surveying is a vital industry that requires bodies to get the work done. When developers can’t get their work done, they ultimately will go to
the legislature to lobby for change. We don’t want to find our profession at the mercy of elected officials who have no idea what we do and the
details of our role.

It remains in our best interest to unite our efforts into “ONE” powerful voice that will help us stay ahead of potential legislation that will come.

Too few of licensed surveyors is a recipe for trouble and was clearly the number one threat discussed during the Western Regional
Survey Conference.

Threat #2: Lack of Awareness

After identifying the number one threat as a dwindling workforce, the panel inevitably transitioned to the question, Why are no new
young surveyors lined up to take the place of soon-to-be retirees?

A large part of the problem is a lack of awareness of the profession. Our profession’s outreach efforts are lackluster, and we simply
aren’t reaching the right people, at the right time, in the right ways. Again, a consistent, powerful, united voice is needed in order to
increase awareness, including:

• Recruiting at a younger age
• Involving the right people, such as school counselors
• Making outreach fun and relevant
• Targeting beyond friends and family

Threat #3: Rapid Changes in Technology

There is no question that drastic updates to technology are also impacting our ability to educate and equip our workforce properly.

The majority of small survey firms cannot afford to shell out for a hundred thousand dollars worth of gear, so affording the latest and
greatest tech resources is one hurdle.
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The Nevada Traverse Vol.49, No.2, 2022 31