Welding was my first "career" out of highschool. (2013)
Welded structural, then went to a medical supply facility and welded a ton of stainless (OR tables, Mortuary equipment, Mobility Equipment, etc).
The pay rates are NOT what the blue-collar world would convince you to believe.
I started fresh at $12 an hour, working 60-70 hour weeks.
Even after all my certifications, I topped out around $28 an hour.
Only way to manage more than that is to fight for a spot at a high-demand facility, or go to the pipelines. (with the exception of a few private shops/facilities)
Part of the "good money" is also due to selling your time/energy/life to 60-80 hour work weeks.
Long story short, these companies are paying pennies for "welders".
Nobody who knows what they're doing is going to accept the job, but there's 1000's of freshies who come straight out of school and accept it because "Welding is a great career!".
Engineers are paid very well, and THEN the rest of the overhead is thrown into actual production.
In turn THIS is what the products look like. Well designed, poorly constructed.
28 bucks an hour, at 40 hours a week is 1120. I'll give you 25 hours of OT (60-70 hr/week) is another 1050 on top of your base wage. That's almost 113,000 bucks a year...are you saying that ISN'T a good wage?