1) Work is challenging and plentiful if you are skilled. Pay is good. There is always more to learn.
2) It can be a health hazard due to fumes, work environments, heights etc.. Welders are not always treated as "skilled labor", some industries hire and fire at will depending on the need for welders.
3) I don't know the average for all. Maybe some government agency web site may have that information. I have made from 7.25 per hour at age 15 to $40.00 hr at 38.
4) Gerald Austin
5) Iuka Mississippi.

Be eternally grateful, Just not to me :)

Gerald Austin

1) Extremely challenging if you want it to be. You can continue to learn new things for as long as you desire.
2) Once you leave the shop enviroment, very little welding is done flat footed on the ground. I have welded hanging from a harness over 130' in the air, in a trench on my back underneath a pipe, inside a container where the fumes could kill you with a safety line attached to pull me out if I pass out, in chemical plants where a mistake could blow up the entire block, I have a former employee who will soon be welding underwater (this is one of the most hazardous). There are many other potential hazards. A good welder in my opinion must be level headed, have a fair share of common sense and a sense of adventure.
3) Wages range from $9.00 per hour for a manufacturing enviroment (no certifications, usually GMAW) to union scale in my area of $38.00. These are not self employed wages, those can be much higher.
4) Mike Sherman, Owner of Shermans Welding
5) Conneaut, Ohio (between Cleveland, Ohio and Erie, Pa.)