March 02, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Working as a floral designer
Flowers are common adornments at weddings and funerals. It’s the work of floral designers to arrange foliage and flora for these and other occasions.
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The work designers do with clients is similar for both memorials and
weddings. They might show their customers pictures of different types of flowers
or arrangements that are available to help them decide. Clients may have
particular tastes or cultural concerns, and cost may be a factor.
After consulting with clients, floral designers order what they’ll need, which
can require careful timing. For example, roses shipped on Friday for a Saturday
wedding will still be in bud form on the day of the wedding; they need to be
sent earlier so that the roses are fully open for the wedding day.
When an order arrives at the florist shop, there’s much to do. Floral
designers first must "process" the flowers (that is, cut, clean, and feed
the flowers). The arranging comes next. Floral designers use a number of tools
and materials, including wire, tape, bows, and devices that help to hold the
stems of flowers in place.
Median annual earnings of floral designers were $21,060 in May 2005; this means
that half of all floral designers earned more than this amount, and half earned
less. The highest earning 10 percent made more than $32,960, and the lowest
earning 10 percent made less than $14,710. These data are for wage-and-salary
workers only and do not include the self-employed.
These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program. For more information, see
"Jobs in weddings and funerals: Working with the betrothed and
bereaved" by Elka Maria Torpey, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2006-07.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »