Plumber top pay at $49,000? I know lots of plumbers, both union and non-union and they make way more than $49,000. Most make an extra $20K per year just doing side jobs!
Welder salary is just about right if you are talking shop work. Even high end aerospace welders make around $50,000 a year, +/- $5,000 or so.
I've been in construction for many years and getting older. Trying to get some company to train me in the latest technolgy like orbital welding, EBW, etc is next to impossible. I'm worn out from sending resumes on the computer. I really feel that anyone entering the welding trade today needs to get a college degree in mechanical engineering, metalurgy, etc in order to make the big bucks. You can make good money travelling like a gyspy pipelining or rolling around in fly ash in a boiler house but you'll wear yourself out fast and technolgy will eventually leave you in the dust. Tough trade to break into and make it big. For every welder out there making over $75,000, there are probabaly a hundred or more making under $40,000/yr. There are better ways to make a living.