Skilled craft professionals continue to earn top dollar, according to NCCER’s 2015 Construction Craft Salary Survey. Each year, NCCER surveys companies and organizations from the industrial and commercial construction industries across the U.S. The survey asks about the salaries of their craft professionals. The Construction Craft Salary Survey represents average annual salaries for individual craft areas, not including overtime, per diem, bonuses or other incentives.
Of the nearly 90 construction groups surveyed, average annual salaries for craft professions ranged from just over $47,000 to almost $89,000. Project managers and project supervisors topped the list, earning $88,675 and $77,917, respectively. Other professions earning more than $65,000 annually include tower crane operators, power generation technicians, combo welders, power line workers and instrumentation technicians. Mobile crane operators, millwrights, pipe welders, electronic systems technicians and heavy equipment operators earned more than $60,000 in 2015. Industrial coatings applicators saw the most significant pay increase of all craft professions. The salaries here are up 35 percent from the previous year. After that, sprinkler fitters experienced a 26 percent increase. Since many craft professionals receive overtime, per diem, project bonuses and other pay incentives, their take-home pay is typically much greater than the salaries in this survey.
NCCER’s Construction Craft Survey is one of numerous resources that NCCER and its Build Your Future initiative offer. The goal is to promote construction careers. Additionally, the NCCER assists in creating a pipeline of qualified craft professionals to the industry. Complete survey results are available at nccer.org.
The organizations that participate in NCCER’s survey do so voluntarily, and all specific company information remains confidential. Only craft areas in which the number of responses received is sufficient to calculate a valid average are included in the survey results.
About NCCER
NCCER is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) education foundation. The construction industry created this foundation to develop standardized curriculum with portable credentials. Additionally, it began to help address the skilled construction workforce shortage. NCCER has industry recognition for offering training, assessment and certification. It also offers career development standards for both the construction and maintenance craft professional.
