4 ms·

> it might be a bad area or a bad employer. Outside of big cities, there may not be enough demand, esp. consistent demand, to justify good pay and bennies. My

> it might be a bad area or a bad employer. Outside of big cities, there may not be enough demand, esp. consistent demand, to justify good pay and bennies. My uncle is a welder, has a lot of specializations including some underwater stuff. No shortage of offers... for 6 weeks of work in nowhere-ville, often requiring you to supply your own transport and housing. 3 months in FL, 6 months in NC, 8 weeks in GA. And they all pay crap.

mfer 4y ago
> Outside of big cities, there may not be enough demand, esp. consistent demand, to justify good pay and bennies. I guess that depends how far outside cities. In the suburbs there is demand. There is a shortage of trades and many trades folks are older in age. When they retire there isn't the back fill behind them. And all of this is happening as the population is growing.
- eropple 4y ago
  > In the suburbs there is demand. Largely for residential, which is relatively cheap and lower-skilled. (Not low-skilled, but the barrier to entry is lower.)
- Brybry 4y ago
  US population growth is mostly flat, all the growth is from immigration.[1][2] And those people are filling trade skill jobs. [3] > More than one-third of construction laborers (686,000 workers), at least 30 percent of carpenters (382,000 workers), and 45 percent of painters and paperhangers (264,000 workers) are immigrants. And without them the population long term would decrease (which is obvious from the low fertility rate). [4] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/immigration-census-population.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/immigration-census-pop... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Growth_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Sta... [3] https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/covid19-immigrants-construction-infrastructure/ https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/covid19-immig... [4] https://www.cato.org/blog/census-finds-us-population-will-decline-without-immigration https://www.cato.org/blog/census-finds-us-population-will-de...
  - chrisdhoover 4y ago
    True that. Every job site I go to is filled with hardworking Mexicans and Central Americans.
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      Yet everyone complains how poorly houses are built these days...
      - dbfx 4y ago
        More of a material fault than anything else, hiuses in the us are disposeable
      - Tangurena2 4y ago
        Because the states where most of the construction workers are immigrants don't have licensing for tradespeople. They also have laws protecting the builders from "defective house" litigation.
- chrisdhoover 4y ago
  I’m reading the population is shrinking. Isn’t the US below replacement rate? Certainly Europe is. I think immigration is masking that kids these days are not have kids these days
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
factsarelolz 4y ago
Weird I've heard exactly the opposite. The person that does travel welding usually has a setup like a big truck and a pull behind RV. They jump from job site to job site staying campgrounds, county / public property where overnight parking was allowed (previously Walmart parking lots). As long as the job site is further than 50-100 miles from home you get paid a per diem which granted won't pay for a 4 star hotel, but at 65$ a day (rate depending on location) x 30 (6 5 day work weeks) $1950 then another $25 a day for food $750. This is untaxed and on top of your normal hourly rate. These jobs tend to need to be done on a quick time frame so most do not only work 40 hour work weeks but most are working 60-80 hours. So there is also an insane potential for overtime.

mfer 4y ago

> Outside of big cities, there may not be enough demand, esp. consistent demand, to justify good pay and bennies. I guess that depends how far outside cities. In the suburbs there is demand. There is a shortage of trades and many trades folks are older in age. When they retire there isn't the back fill behind them. And all of this is happening as the population is growing.

eropple 4y ago
> In the suburbs there is demand. Largely for residential, which is relatively cheap and lower-skilled. (Not low-skilled, but the barrier to entry is lower.)
Brybry 4y ago
US population growth is mostly flat, all the growth is from immigration.[1][2] And those people are filling trade skill jobs. [3] > More than one-third of construction laborers (686,000 workers), at least 30 percent of carpenters (382,000 workers), and 45 percent of painters and paperhangers (264,000 workers) are immigrants. And without them the population long term would decrease (which is obvious from the low fertility rate). [4] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/immigration-census-population.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/immigration-census-pop... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Growth_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Sta... [3] https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/covid19-immigrants-construction-infrastructure/ https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/covid19-immig... [4] https://www.cato.org/blog/census-finds-us-population-will-decline-without-immigration https://www.cato.org/blog/census-finds-us-population-will-de...
- chrisdhoover 4y ago
  True that. Every job site I go to is filled with hardworking Mexicans and Central Americans.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    Yet everyone complains how poorly houses are built these days...
    - dbfx 4y ago
      More of a material fault than anything else, hiuses in the us are disposeable
    - Tangurena2 4y ago
      Because the states where most of the construction workers are immigrants don't have licensing for tradespeople. They also have laws protecting the builders from "defective house" litigation.
chrisdhoover 4y ago
I’m reading the population is shrinking. Isn’t the US below replacement rate? Certainly Europe is. I think immigration is masking that kids these days are not have kids these days

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

factsarelolz 4y ago

Weird I've heard exactly the opposite. The person that does travel welding usually has a setup like a big truck and a pull behind RV. They jump from job site to job site staying campgrounds, county / public property where overnight parking was allowed (previously Walmart parking lots). As long as the job site is further than 50-100 miles from home you get paid a per diem which granted won't pay for a 4 star hotel, but at 65$ a day (rate depending on location) x 30 (6 5 day work weeks) $1950 then another $25 a day for food $750. This is untaxed and on top of your normal hourly rate. These jobs tend to need to be done on a quick time frame so most do not only work 40 hour work weeks but most are working 60-80 hours. So there is also an insane potential for overtime.