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Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

ManufacturingO*NET 51-4121.00United States

Use hand-welding, flame-cutting, hand-soldering, or brazing equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.

COMING SOON See related ASU learning
Median annual earnings
$52,801

50th percentile, United States

Projected change
+5.8%

2025 to 2035

Typical education
High school diploma or less

74.4% of the workforce

Employment
454.43K jobs

Growing to 480.98K by 2035

Explore this career by location

Compare nationwide estimates with state or county job-market data.

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Build the skills

ASU learning related to this career

These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.

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The work

What welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers do

Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.

  • Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
  • Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
  • Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
  • Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
  • Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment.
  • Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
  • Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques.
  • Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.
  • Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter.
  • Align and clamp workpieces together, using rules, squares, or hand tools, or position items in fixtures, jigs, or vises.
  • Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained.
  • Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material.
  • Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.
  • Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment.
  • Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools.
  • Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys.
  • Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment.
  • Develop templates and models for welding projects, using mathematical calculations based on blueprint information.
  • Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools.
  • Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths.
  • Hammer out bulges or bends in metal workpieces.

Pay and outlook

What the job pays and where it is heading

Annual earnings range

Reported earnings by percentile, United States

10th percentile
$36,962
25th percentile
$45,024
50th percentile
$52,801
75th percentile
$63,933
90th percentile
$81,662

The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $52,801 and half earn less.

Employment outlook

2025 to 2035 projection

+5.8%average or slower
2025454,432 jobs
2035 projected480,976 jobs

26,544 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.

Preparation

Education levels

What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.

High school diploma or less
74.4%
Certificate
11.6%
Some college
11.3%
Associate degree
1.8%
Bachelor's degree
0.9%

Skills

Skills employers ask for

Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.

  • Welding
  • Metal Inert Gas (MIG) Welding
  • Fabrication
  • Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
  • Blueprinting
  • Welding Equipment
  • Flux-Cored Arc Welding
  • Welding Symbols
  • Hand Tools
  • Aluminum
  • Lifting Ability
  • Grinding Machine
  • Tape Measure
  • Grinding
  • Gas Metal Arc Welding
  • Power Tool Operation
  • Blueprint Reading
  • Machinery
  • Shielded Metal Arc Welding
  • Pipe (Fluid Conveyance)

How the work gets done

Core competencies

Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.

Quality Control Analysis
Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Operations Monitoring
Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Time Management
Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Operation and Control
Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Troubleshooting
Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Coordination
Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Social Perceptiveness
Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Equipment Selection
Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
Active Learning
Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Systems Analysis
Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Mathematics
Using mathematics to solve problems.
Service Orientation
Actively looking for ways to help people.
Systems Evaluation
Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

In the market

Job titles and employers

Recent job postings in United States

Common job titles

  1. 01Welders14,562 postings
  2. 02Welders/Fabricators5,003 postings
  3. 03MIG Welders2,267 postings
  4. 04TIG Welders1,859 postings
  5. 05Fitters/Welders1,409 postings
  6. 06Pipe Welders1,322 postings
  7. 07Structural Welders1,262 postings
  8. 08MIG/TIG Welders643 postings
  9. 09Aluminum Welders570 postings
  10. 10Production Welders381 postings
  11. 11Welders/Fitters/Fabricators366 postings
  12. 12Mig Welders/Fabricators333 postings
  13. 13Lead Welders282 postings
  14. 14TIG Welders/Fabricators273 postings
  15. 15Flux Core Welders264 postings
  16. 16Metal Fabricators/Welders262 postings
  17. 17Certified Welders241 postings
  18. 18Stick Welders239 postings
  19. 19Solderers205 postings
  20. 20Robotic Welders193 postings

Top employers

  1. 01Aerotek7,003 postings
  2. 02ManpowerGroup518 postings
  3. 03Tradesmen International416 postings
  4. 04Express Employment Professionals322 postings
  5. 05Spherion Staffing257 postings
  6. 06Cimco Refrigeration255 postings
  7. 07Adecco242 postings
  8. 08Staffmark170 postings
  9. 09ResourceMFG167 postings
  10. 10Randstad164 postings
  11. 11GPAC151 postings
  12. 12PrideStaff151 postings
  13. 13Trillium Staffing146 postings
  14. 14Waste Management134 postings
  15. 15QPS Employment Group131 postings
  16. 16Austin Industrial110 postings
  17. 17Valmont Industries102 postings
  18. 18Brown & Root Industrial Services97 postings
  19. 19Eaton Corporation89 postings
  20. 20Huntington Ingalls Industries88 postings

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