Production · Holland code RC
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
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.
Also called: Brazer, Solderer, Welder, Wirer, Assembly Line Brazer, Fabrication Welder, Maintenance Welder, MIG Welder (Metal Inert Gas Welder).
O*NET 51-4121.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $53,750
- Middle half earn $46,790 to $63,010. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 54% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 2 of 5
- Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +2% · Slower than average
- 457,300 jobs in 2024, projected 467,200. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- 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.
- Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments.
- 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.
- Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Monitoring3.0 / 5
- Critical Thinking2.9 / 5
- Active Listening2.6 / 5
- Speaking2.6 / 5
- Reading Comprehension2.5 / 5
- Active Learning2.3 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Production and Processing3.5 / 5
- Mechanical3.1 / 5
- Mathematics2.9 / 5
- English Language2.9 / 5
- Design2.8 / 5
- Engineering and Technology2.6 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic100
- Investigative18
- Artistic7
- Social1
- Enterprising9
- Conventional44
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- brazier · DE Hartlöter/Hartlöterin · FR braseur/braseuse
- solderer · DE Löter/Löterin · FR braseur brasage tendre/braseuse brasage tendre
- welder · DE Schweißer/Schweißerin · FR soudeur/soudeuse
- pipe welder · DE Rohrleitungsbauer/Rohrleitungsbauerin · FR soudeur de tuyaux/soudeuse de tuyaux
- spot welder · DE Punktschweißer/Punktschweißerin · FR soudeur par point/soudeuse par point
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Welding trades (5213)49,800 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “金属溶接・溶断従事者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥266,200
- Middle half earn ¥219,600 to ¥321,800 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 94,250
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Craft and related trades workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €40,086 |
| Germany | €38,638 |
| Austria | €38,194 |
| Sweden | €37,856 |
| Netherlands | €37,077 |
| Ireland | €36,098 |
| France | €27,145 |
| Italy | €26,488 |
| Spain | €22,817 |
| Portugal | €11,142 |
| Poland | €10,099 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the lower third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -1.20. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (51-4121).
Related careers
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