A carpenter/labor construct, repair, and install building frameworks, fixtures, and structures created from wood and related materials. These include walls, windows, floors, cabinets, door frames, and doors, among others. They perform general maintenance tasks and help in mechanical and carpentry-related jobs. Furthermore, they operate forklifts, wheel loaders, and related equipment. Also, they follow blueprints and building plans to meet their customer's needs. Additionally, they instruct and direct laborers and other construction helpers.

This personnel needs only a high school diploma and on-the-job training. While certifications are not necessarily essential to getting a job, there are certificate programs that teach carpenters the required basics. You must possess technical, attention to detail, communication, and time management skills. Additionally, applicants need manual dexterity, a good sense of balance, and hand-eye coordination. Also, you must be physically fit.

A carpenter/labor makes an average salary of $30,279 per year or $14.56 per hour. The range vary between $25,000 and $36,000.

What Does a Carpenter/Labour Do

There are certain skills that many carpenter/labours have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, detail oriented and dexterity.

Learn more about what a Carpenter/Labour does

How To Become a Carpenter/Labour

If you're interested in becoming a carpenter/labour, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 15.1% of carpenter/labours have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.7% of carpenter/labours have master's degrees. Even though some carpenter/labours have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Carpenter/Labour

Carpenter/Labour Career Paths

Average Salary for a Carpenter/Labour

Carpenter/Labours in America make an average salary of $36,131 per year or $17 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $47,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $27,000 per year.
Average Carpenter/Labour Salary
$36,131 Yearly
$17.37 hourly

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Roles and Types of Carpenter/Labour

The role of a carpenter/labour includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general carpenter/labour responsibilities:

  • Helping install foundations, walls, floors, ceilings,
  • Follow blueprints and building plans to meet the needs of clients install structures
  • The ideal candidate will have knowledge of commercial construction

There are several types of carpenter/labour, including:

Carpenter

Role:

How much wood would a carpenter.. Wait, that's not how that goes. Speaking of carpenter's though, they do cut a lot of wood. That's how they're able to construct, repair and install building frameworks.

With only a high school diploma, you could be making an average of $48,330 a year by becoming a carpenter. The range of projects they work on range from installing kitchen cabinets to building highways and bridges.
  • Average Salary: $41,748
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Helper

Role:

A helper gives a hand with domestic chores. Your employer might have a demanding job or one too many children to take care of, or perhaps they do not have the physical strength to keep an organized home.

You could be asked to work in the garden or maintain the lawn, but most of your tasks will revolve around housekeeping. Cooking, cleaning, and running various errands will be on your to-do list, like grocery shopping, picking up kids from school, cleaning the pool, whatever your employer might think of, really. As long as it is legal, you should be up for it.

You will be coming in and out of other people's homes sharing their personal space, sometimes even in a live-in arrangement, so being friendly, clean, and reliable is a must. You need to build a good relationship with the family you help and, as usual, building trust takes time. Just make sure your working hours are respected, and you get the amount of free time you had agreed upon. Painting an image of what an overworked and cranky helper might do will definitely set the grounds for negotiation.

  • Average Salary: $31,331
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Journeyman

Role:

The term journeyman came about during the middle ages from the establishment of guilds, akin to the modern-day professional association. Through the guidelines provided by a guild, workers can build their skills by moving up three rank orders: apprenticeship, journeyman, and masters. Each level requires a period of work experience, as well as professional work, to be submitted to the guild for evaluation. The trade certificate earned by a journeyman would qualify him to operate as an employee, but to be self-employed, he/she would need to earn a master's certificate.

Daily, a journeyman is tasked with manual work involving areas such as plumbing, electrical, and carpentry. This includes developing maintenance procedures, repairing electrical control systems, and conducting plumbing installations. Besides that, they also perform machinery operations, develop quality assurance methods, and facilitate material management activities.

Employers require a minimum high school diploma for a journeyman, with the remaining education happening on the job. A journeyman will also need to demonstrate 1-2 years of work experience. This role earns an average of $22 per hour.

  • Average Salary: $57,682
  • Degree: Associate Degree

States With The Most Carpenter/Labour Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active carpenter/labour jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where carpenter/labours earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Carpenter/Labour Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California739$52,185
2Florida730$31,140
3Texas688$33,299
4North Carolina468$31,828
5Virginia436$37,771
6Georgia407$30,667
7Pennsylvania398$35,383
8Ohio395$34,583
9New York322$40,557
10Maryland320$36,473
11Tennessee304$32,028
12Washington279$43,420
13Iowa273$31,968
14Illinois250$38,589
15Colorado248$35,826
16Indiana241$37,508
17Arizona237$32,173
18Minnesota236$41,254
19Massachusetts234$42,010
20Michigan233$36,244
21Wisconsin227$35,652
22South Carolina224$31,105
23Oregon208$36,310
24New Jersey198$40,149
25Kansas189$29,793
26Missouri188$35,956
27Utah183$30,017
28Alabama180$33,409
29Louisiana152$31,016
30Montana147$29,857
31Oklahoma145$30,894
32Kentucky136$33,206
33West Virginia133$27,334
34Nebraska116$30,171
35Idaho110$26,860
36Connecticut105$42,573
37Mississippi93$29,771
38Nevada88$36,148
39Maine88$31,112
40Arkansas87$31,848
41New Hampshire78$39,266
42South Dakota72$30,182
43New Mexico64$27,180
44North Dakota59$33,483
45Alaska58$38,151
46Delaware53$38,297
47Wyoming52$35,607
48Vermont42$40,251
49Hawaii42$38,879
50Rhode Island38$40,942

Carpenter/Labour Education

Carpenter/Labour Majors

19.1 %

Carpenter/Labour Degrees

High School Diploma

51.0 %

Bachelors

15.1 %

Diploma

14.0 %

Top Skills For a Carpenter/Labour

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 17.7% of carpenter/labours listed roofing on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and detail oriented are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Carpenter/Labour Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Carpenter/Labour templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Carpenter/Labour resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Carpenter/Labour Demographics

Carpenter/Labour Gender Distribution

Male
Male
96%
Female
Female
4%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among carpenter/labours, 4.0% of them are women, while 96.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among carpenter/labours is White, which makes up 62.2% of all carpenter/labours.

  • The most common foreign language among carpenter/labours is Spanish at 78.8%.

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Best States For a Carpenter/Labour

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a carpenter/labour. The best states for people in this position are California, Washington, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Carpenter/labours make the most in California with an average salary of $52,185. Whereas in Washington and Connecticut, they would average $43,420 and $42,573, respectively. While carpenter/labours would only make an average of $42,010 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Vermont

Total Carpenter/Labour Jobs: 42
Highest 10% Earn:
$56,000
Location Quotient:
1.42

2. Washington

Total Carpenter/Labour Jobs: 279
Highest 10% Earn:
$55,000
Location Quotient:
0.99

3. California

Total Carpenter/Labour Jobs: 739
Highest 10% Earn:
$71,000
Location Quotient:
0.65
Full List Of Best States For Carpenter/Labours

How Do Carpenter/Labour Rate Their Jobs?

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5.0

Carpenter foreman • January 2020

5.0

Zippia Official LogoCarpenter foreman • January 2020

What do you like the most about working as Carpenter/Labour?

I like to see the end results. I like to take pride in my work. Show More

What do you NOT like?

I like everything about it early hours good pay benefits and it’s good work out Show More

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Top Carpenter/Labour Employers

Most Common Employers For Carpenter/Labour

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Turner Construction$45,701$21.9712
2Clark Construction of Ridgefield$45,535$21.8913
3White Construction$45,533$21.897
4Cleveland Construction$45,453$21.857
5Baker Concrete Construction$45,017$21.647
6Hill Construction Company$44,909$21.597
7Wilson Construction$44,877$21.589
8Balfour Beatty plc$43,935$21.127
9Cajun Industries$43,723$21.029
10Messer Construction Co.$42,959$20.657

Carpenter/Labour Videos