A major component to Texas’ long-term economic development is consistent job growth, and that is exactly what we are seeing across a number of different industries,” said Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Andres Alcantar. “The private sector in Texas has grown by 279,800 jobs over the last year, a 3.2 percent increase, while national private sector annual growth has been just 1.8 percent.” - OAOA.COM
Being in any profession right now is tough. Go take a look at your States monthly disciplinary reports that includes all of them. This is a brutal economy right now and the politics to match. Everybody's suffering. It's not just you.....
As much as I hope that your opinion of the future of land surveying is incorrect, I tend to agree. The combination of a poor economy ,upgrades in data collection and processing technologies has unfortunately reduced the demand for some of the traditional surveying services. I do think, however, that more opportunities will open up for qualified surveyors to do quality analysis of spatial data. With so much data available (currently and particularly in the future) from so many different sources, there should be a demand for professionals to qualify said data and determine its usability. Assessing and qualifying data is something surveyors already do, though the context may likely be a little different. The caveat is that we as surveyors will need to prove we are the right professionals for the task.
If a person googles "pipeline surveying companies" and calls anyone that pops up they'll be hired in minutes if they can stand up sorta straight and pass a drug test.