http://www.jsonline.com/business/welding-job-fair-fails-to-spark-interest-lc9g955-202236561.html

Hell there is a good reason for it.  Wages that are still on par with a 1995 market.   Why do it when there are other ways to invest yourself that have a brighter future and prospect.   There are plenty of other avenues of skilled labor that pay on par or better then avg welder wages, so why deal with being burned, hazards, health risks etc.  Most companies in my area still offer the same kind of pay they did 15 years ago, and yes they all have revolving doors on the front of the building.  You can make a decent career out of it being self employed but slugging away in some factory hoping for advancement....if your good at it that is where they want you to stay.  I know this won't be a popular post but it is freaking true.  Some high end highly skilled specialty skills pay well no doubt, but average everyday wire slinging or other production type work is a joke as far as income.  Welding is a skill and in reality a talent...not everyone will excel at it.   As long as we are in general treated like a dime a dozen labor people will walk away from it.

I have found skilled welders are hard to find even in the deep south but you can find all the rod burners you want. I  have talk with a few QC managers with some of the bigger constrution companies who would love to have some skilled welders. There x-ray repair rates on most jobs is over 10% and there hearing about it from there customers.
The pay in the south louisiana has been pretty good for the last 10 years or so with the $per hr  doubling since I started welding in the late 1990's for combo welders.
I think the reason why most companies are crying is because there not willing to pay for skilled welders. Hire me a helper, teach them to weld (burn rods), don't have to pay them and then cry they can't find welders to keep wages low. Now your market is flooded with rod burners and now its biting them in the you know what!

Just my opinion.
J.W.

Started in a fab shop in 79 for 8 50 an hour and in 83 passed a test on a paper mill job and went to 14 50 and 40 a day per diem. After 30 years of inflation people will still try to hire at a lesser wage than what I made back then. This seems to the one of the only trades that by the time you gain enough experience and knowledge of your trade, your to old and beat up to give a ****. But I still try to help anybody that wants learn, at least the basic skills will help in some way or another.

Don't make the mistake of believing welding is a skilled trade. According to the US government, welding is a "tool of the trades". It has never been considered to be a skilled trade as per a decision made by the politicians back in the early 1900's.

That decision was by made by the government to ensure the welders could not organize and form their own trade union, demand higher wages, etc.

Al

BTW, if you decide to come to Canada, be prepared to work as hard as these guys, hard at in the early morning on a northern Alberta well-site!

To elaborate a bit on what Al has mentioned, I've had a lot of guys apply for welding jobs over the years, asking for big bucks, and telling me that they can weld anything. So, while they're filling out an application, I'll go out to the shop and tack two plates together to make a "T".  Then, I'll mess with the settings on the machine, the wire feeder, and the shielding gas, and turn everything off.  When a candidate finishes filling out his application, I'll take him to that machine, ask him to set it according to the WPS, make a 5/16" fillet weld on both sides of the plate, and show me how to check his welds with a fillet gage.  It never ceases to amaze me that of the guys who are telling me they can weld anything, 95% of them can't do much of anything I've asked them to do, which is very basic stuff.  Anyone can run a pass, but just because someone can run a pass does not make him/her a good welder.  To me, a good welder (1) understands and follows the WPS, which is basically a recipe for a good weld, (2) understands the do's and dont's of the applicable welding code, (3) understands the limitations of the process and the limitations of the welding position for which he/she is qualified, and (4) knows how to work safely.

Not everyone is cut out to be a skilled welder. As I've already mentioned, welding is not considered a skilled trade by the US Government. The intention was to prevent welders from unionizing and controlling the US economy.

Most construction trades include welding training as part of their apprenticeship program. The union trades do a pretty good job of providing their signatory contractors with skilled welders. Larger employers that have traditionally used apprenticeship programs to provided skilled workers have cut back in an effort to control expenses. Those money savings may have been good for the short term, but the lost of training programs is manifested as a labor pool that can not longer meet their need for highly skilled worked.

I have to say the majority of people employed as welders learn their skills on the job. Few welders, on the order of 10% to 15%,  have attended any formal welder training program. Many welders that excel at welding have honed their skills by working with multiple employers. The process of jumping from one company to another exposes the welder to different welding processes, different products, different codes, each requiring different levels of skill. This approach to welder training works to the benefit to the employer by keeping wages low. However, those employers that require highly skilled welders are at a disadvantage because the pool of skilled welders is small. Employers seem to be adverse to providing training to their welders for fear of losing them when they jump ship and migrate to employers that are willing to pay better wages. All too often, the jobs that pay higher wages are temporary in nature or far removed from the welder's home. The individual has to make a decision based on hard economics whether a move to a new location is justified by the higher wages. There are times when the lure of higher wages simply does not justify the cost of relocating or the temporary position with higher wages simply doe not make financial sense in the long term when all the costs are considered. One cannot fail to consider the financial impact of benefits such as health insurance, retirement, vacation, sick days, etc. Chasing the jobs with higher wages does not always translate into more money in the bank. 

Market forces will come into play at some point. Employers have to make a decision based on economics to either pay better wages or initiate training programs for their current employees. When economic times are unfavorable, wages and training suffer. When economic times improve and there is a greater demand for skilled workers and training opportunity improve. Employers will always look for the easiest, most cost effective means of filling the skills gaps in their organization. The fly in the ointment from the worker's viewpoint is the H1B program where the employer is allowed to bring in skilled workers from other countries. While I have not seen it, I have heard rumors of a couple of shipyards housing foreign workers on barges to fill the gap for low cost workers.

I have heard the lamentations of several employers regarding the difficulty of locating skilled workers. When I quiry them about the wages they are willing to pay, they are on the low end of the pay scale. When they bemoan the fact that their employee turnover rate is very high, the reason isn't that difficult to see, the wages are simply too low to retain the most desirable employees.

The bottom line is that the employers, both union and nonunion, have to pay a wage that is going to attract workers with the skill required. Those employers that refuse to pay a decent wage are always going to find it difficult to find workers with the skills and work ethic they find desirable. The people are out there if the wages are reasonable. What is a reasonable wage? It isn't what we earned 10, 20, or 30 years ago.

Several years ago I sat on an advisory board for one of the local vocational schools. One of the individuals on the same committee was bemoaning the fact that he could find the welders he needed. I made the comment that he probably was paying the same wages he paid years ago. He looked at me like I had pinched him. "What do you mean? I pay decent wages!"

I said, "I bet your paying your shop foreman the same wages you paid him 10 years ago and you are paying your new hires $10 to $12 an hour."

He said, "Yes, that's about right."

I said, "Most of my clients are paying around $15 to $20 and hour for a new hire and $25 to $28 per hour for a welder with several years of experience and can pass a qualification test."

He said, "I never thought of it, but the wages I am paying were considered to be pretty good when I opened my business. Maybe they are no longer in line with other companies."

There is a fine balance between wages and the supply of skilled workers. There is no easy answer to the ongoing problem of wages paid by the employer and the need to put food on the table faced by the workers. I do find it interesting that the profits of many large employers are at record highs, yet the pay earned by the average worker is stagnated and the number of unionized workers are at a record low. Sooner or later the tide will change. The question is whether the change will be in the near future or the distant future. All I can say is that people involved in outsourcing overseas tell me, "But they are getting better!"

"God bless globalization!" It is the mantra of the industrial conglomerate. Even Henry Ford recognized the need to pay his workers a decent rate so they could afford to buy the cars he was building.

Best regards - Al

The problem I see is they are not making it worth coming to work. They are offering $25 for a CWI and $15 for welders about a 100 miles from where I live. By the time I pay for gas and commuting time I am better off working at the local Lowes or something. To really work steady you have to be willing to travel which means uprooting/abandoning your family on a regular basis. I guess it is worth it to some. When I can make the same money and not have to burn the crap out of myself or kill myself on a job why should I?