A/E Industry 3rd-Quarter Revenues Down 11.8 Year-Over-Year, Flat From 2nd Quarter

Industry News / Industry Statistics

November 19, 2020

A/E Industry 3rd-Quarter Revenues Down 11.8 Year-Over-Year, Flat From 2nd Quarter

The U.S. Census Bureau’s ‘advance estimate’ of total A/E revenues for the third quarter of 2020 (Q3) is $80.08 billion, an 11.8% decline from the same quarter last year. The estimate is less than a half-point improvement from the $79.77 billion in A/E revenues in Q2, which was the first full quarter of the pandemic-caused recession.

“Frankly it’s probably good news that Q3 didn’t decline further from Q2,” said ACEC Private Market Programs Vice President Erin McLaughlin. “Basically since the pandemic started, our industry’s revenues are down about 12 percent.”

McLaughlin said that other industries may rebound faster than engineering, specifically those that more dependent on consumer spending.

“It’s unlikely that real estate developers and government agencies will start substantial new design/construction projects until we have settled into a post-Covid economy,” McLaughlin said.

All comments to blog posts will be moderated by ACEC staff.