How hard is it to hire for Permitting?
Talent in this discipline is tighter than average nationally. Searches are workable but the strongest candidates move quickly.
The numbers behind it
Permitting maps to one federal occupation in the BLS taxonomy (OEWS, 2025 annual release). When a discipline blends several occupations, the most scarce one sets the verdict.
| BLS occupation | Median wage | US employment | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban and Regional Planners (19-3051) | $94,750 | 44,230 | Moderately hard to hire |
What this means for your firm
A Permitting search is workable, but timing matters. Checking your own bench first for the capability, or an adjacent one a cross-training move away, can save a quarter of search time. Atlas builds that picture: a digital twin of your firm's people, credentials, capacity, and utilization, compared against the work in front of you.
Other disciplines banded moderately hard to hire
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (2025 annual release). Bands compare occupations within the AEC cohort; industry floors and expert curation are labeled where applied. Descriptive labor-market statistics only; nothing on this page predicts any individual's behavior.