Archaeology field techs with BAs earn less than unskilled laborers

Archaeological field technicians — the people who actually do the digging, screening, and recording on CRM projects — earn as little as $12.53-$19.49/hour on temporary contracts with no benefits, no job security between projects, and frequent relocation requirements. An archaeological monitor with a BA and years of field experience is often the lowest-paid person on a construction site, earning roughly $5/hour less than unskilled laborers without a high school diploma working alongside them. This matters because it creates a workforce crisis: most field techs leave the profession within 1-3 years, taking their hard-won site knowledge with them. The constant turnover means CRM firms are perpetually staffed by inexperienced workers, which degrades the quality of the archaeological record being produced during compliance work. The structural cause: developers set CRM budgets as low as possible to minimize project costs, CRM firms compete on price, and wages are the easiest line item to cut. There is no minimum wage standard for archaeological work despite the specialized education required.