Bench hand vs fabricator

The differences between bench hands and fabricators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a bench hand has an average salary of $36,500, which is higher than the $34,922 average annual salary of a fabricator.

The top three skills for a bench hand include hand tools, grinders and cranes. The most important skills for a fabricator are hand tools, basic math, and calipers.

Bench hand vs fabricator overview

	Bench Hand	Fabricator
Yearly salary	$36,500	$34,922
Hourly rate	$17.55	$16.79
Growth rate	-5%	-1%
Number of jobs	5,097	7,772
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 46%	High School Diploma, 44%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	-

Bench hand vs fabricator salary

Bench hands and fabricators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Bench Hand	Fabricator
Average salary	$36,500	$34,922
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $50,000	Between $27,000 And $44,000
Highest paying City	-	Las Vegas, NV
Highest paying state	-	Nevada
Best paying company	-	Danaher
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between bench hand and fabricator education

There are a few differences between a bench hand and a fabricator in terms of educational background:

	Bench Hand	Fabricator
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 46%	High School Diploma, 44%
Most common major	Business	Precision Metal Working
Most common college	-	-

Bench hand vs fabricator demographics

Here are the differences between bench hands' and fabricators' demographics:

	Bench Hand	Fabricator
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 90.9% Female, 9.1%	Male, 89.8% Female, 10.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 8.8% White, 61.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 8.1% White, 58.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between bench hand and fabricator duties and responsibilities

Bench hand example responsibilities.

Operate various machines including; hones, lathes and surface grinders.
Execute bench, machine and hand tool work in shaping, fitting and assembling forging dies, jigs and fixtures.
Perform all machining operations necessary to build production machinery and tooling to manufacture a wide selection of aerospace fasteners.
Unload trucks using forklift and overhead crane.
Perform in-house calibration on rulers, calipers, digital indicators and leak tester following the approved calibration procedure.

Fabricator example responsibilities.

Finish weld using SMAW, GMAW, FCAW, GTAW as required.
Gain experience in tig and arc welding, as well as cleaning welds.
Design, manufacture, and assemble plastic products through one of a number of methods such as molding and extrusion.
Operate equipment and power tools, including arc welding and gas welding equipment, grinders, sanders, lathes and saws.
Master the use of an array of tools including but not limit to power saws, grinders, polishers, etc.
Certify in SMAW, GMAW.

Bench hand vs fabricator skills

Common bench hand skills

Hand Tools, 48%
Grinders, 19%
Cranes, 14%
Drill Presses, 10%
Manual Lathes, 6%
Visual Inspections, 2%

Common fabricator skills

Hand Tools, 10%
Basic Math, 8%
Calipers, 8%
Math, 7%
Tape Measure, 6%
CNC, 5%