How Much Do Trades Workers Make in Canada? Wages Across the Skilled Trades

Pay in the skilled trades differs by trade and by province. Job Bank’s national median is $42.00 an hour for industrial electricians, $32.12 for carpenters, $30.00 for welders and related machine operators and $25.00 for construction trades helpers and labourers. Apprentices are paid by an employer for the on-the-job part of an apprenticeship, and Alberta’s trade profiles publish a minimum for each period of the apprenticeship. The tables below compare the trades, then look at construction and welding in more detail.

Hourly wages across the trades

Job Bank, run by Employment and Social Development Canada, publishes a low wage (the 10th percentile), a median and a high wage (the 90th percentile) for every occupation. The table compares fifteen trades across Canada; the caption or the last column shows the period and survey behind each row.

Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada). Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.

These are hourly rates. A yearly figure depends on the hours worked: an industrial electrician paid the national median of $42.00 for 40 hours a week over 52 weeks (2,080 hours) would earn about $87,360 before tax. Overtime, shift premiums, layoffs between jobs and seasonal work all move real earnings away from that figure, which is one reason a year’s income can differ from an hourly rate times a full year. The hourly to salary calculator converts any rate with your own hours.

Census incomes for four trade groups

The 2021 Census reports the employment income people earned in 2020, so it is older than Job Bank’s figures. It covers everyone who worked full year, full time in an occupation, which makes it a useful check on the hourly data. The table shows four trade groups across Canada: electricians (the construction trade, not industrial or power system electricians), plumbers, welders and related machine operators, and the general construction trades group (concrete finishers, tilesetters, drywall installers, roofers, glaziers, painters and floor covering installers). The inflation-adjusted columns restate 2020 income in today’s dollars; they are not newer pay data.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, Table 98-10-0586-01: employment income in 2020 of people who worked full year, full time. Columns in September 2026 dollars multiply the 2020 figure by the change in the Consumer Price Index from its 2020 average to September 2026 and round to the nearest $100; they are not newer survey results.

How apprentices are paid

An apprentice is paid by an employer for the on-the-job part of the program and also completes technical (in-school) training. Alberta’s trade profiles publish a minimum for each period of the apprenticeship. An apprentice must be paid at least a set percentage of the rate received by the lowest-paid journeyperson in the same trade employed by the same company; the percentage depends on the trade and the period of the apprenticeship. The minimums for five trades:

Sources: Alberta’s Tradesecrets profiles for electrician, plumber, carpenter, welder and roofer. Each period is designed to take about a year. These are floors: an employer can pay more.

How long an apprenticeship takes

Provinces and territories run apprenticeship training, so program length differs across the country. In Ontario, Skilled Trades Ontario sets the hours for each trade:

Ontario has 23 compulsory trades. To work in one, a person must hold a Registered Training Agreement (as a registered apprentice), a Provisional Certificate of Qualification or a Certificate of Qualification. Every compulsory trade has a certifying exam, and journeypersons in compulsory trades renew their certificate each year (Skilled Trades Ontario).

What non-compulsory means in Ontario (Skilled Trades Ontario):

• You don't have to be certified to work in a non-compulsory trade.
• Certification is optional: you can still complete an apprenticeship or earn a Certificate of Qualification in the trade.
• A Certificate of Qualification in a non-compulsory trade doesn't have to be renewed.
• People working in a non-compulsory trade are not listed on the Skilled Trades Ontario Public Register.

Alberta’s profiles likewise label each trade as compulsory or optional certification, and Quebec’s construction trades have their own certificate system, covered under getting into construction.

The Red Seal endorsement

The Red Seal Program, formally the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program, sets common national standards for designated trades (Red Seal Program). What the endorsement is, and what it isn’t:

• You receive a Red Seal endorsement on your provincial or territorial trade certificate after you pass the Red Seal examination for your trade.
• The endorsement shows you have the knowledge required by your trade's national Red Seal standard.
• The endorsement helps you move between provinces and territories (labour mobility).
• The endorsement on its own does not certify you to work in a trade: certification is issued, and can be confirmed, by the provincial or territorial apprenticeship authority.
• Provinces and territories run apprenticeship training and trade certification, including Red Seal examinations, in their own jurisdictions.

So a Red Seal is a mark of the national standard that helps a tradesperson move between provinces, not a licence. Provinces and territories are responsible for trade certification in their own jurisdictions, and a certificate and Red Seal endorsement can be confirmed with the apprenticeship authority that issued the Red Seal. Each province sets its own rules for certificates from elsewhere; Alberta, for example, authorizes holders of a recognized trade certificate from outside Alberta to work in the full scope of the trade there (Alberta, trade profiles).

Federal support for apprentices

Ottawa’s two cash grants for apprentices, the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant ($1,000 per year or level, to a lifetime maximum of $2,000) and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant (a one-time $2,000), both closed on March 31, 2025 and no longer accept applications. What remains, according to Employment and Social Development Canada, is Employment Insurance while attending technical training and interest-free Canada Apprentice Loans of up to $20,000. The Canada Apprentice Loan is for apprentices in a designated Red Seal trade, up to $4,000 per period of technical training; no payments are due and no interest accumulates until you complete or leave the apprenticeship training program, and it is available everywhere except Quebec, which has its own support. How EI benefits are calculated is covered in the EI guides.

Beyond the hourly wage

Hourly wage figures describe pay for work done as an employee. A tradesperson who runs a contracting business earns business income instead, which depends on rates charged, billable hours and costs, and is reported and taxed differently; the self-employed tax deductions guide covers that side. For employees, a pension plan, health benefits and paid overtime can be worth as much as a difference in hourly rate: total compensation versus salary explains how to compare them, and overtime pay rules in Canada covers when overtime applies.

Construction workers and labourers

Pay across the construction industry

Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey reports wages by industry for employees (people on a payroll, not the self-employed). In 2025, the construction industry had about 1,287,800 employees, with a median wage of $35.00 an hour and an average of $37.86. The median for all industries that year was $30.77, so construction’s median was 14% above it (Table 14-10-0064-01). These figures cover all employees in the construction industry, whatever their job, including office and management staff, so the occupation tables below say more about any one job.

Hourly wages by construction occupation

Job Bank publishes a low (10th percentile), median and high (90th percentile) wage for each occupation. Across Canada:

Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada). Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.

The rows are hourly rates, so a yearly figure depends on hours. A carpenter paid the national median of $32.12 for 40 hours a week over 52 weeks (2,080 hours) would earn about $66,810 a year before tax. Construction work can be seasonal or tied to projects, so weeks without work, or with overtime, move real earnings in either direction; the hourly to salary calculator runs the numbers with your own hours.

Construction labourers by province

For construction trades helpers and labourers (NOC 75110), the national median is $25.00 an hour, with $27.00 in Ontario, $29.85 in Quebec, $25.00 in Alberta and $25.00 in British Columbia. The last column shows which survey each row comes from.

Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada), NOC 75110. Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.

The finishing trades in the 2021 Census

The 2021 Census groups concrete finishers, tilesetters, plasterers and drywall installers, roofers, glaziers, painters and floor covering installers together as “general construction trades” (NOC group 731). For people in that group who worked full year, full time, median employment income in 2020 was $46,800 across Canada. The table gives each province; the inflation-adjusted columns restate those 2020 incomes in today’s dollars and are not newer pay data. The Job Bank wages above are the more recent source.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, Table 98-10-0586-01: employment income in 2020 of people who worked full year, full time. Columns in September 2026 dollars multiply the 2020 figure by the change in the Consumer Price Index from its 2020 average to September 2026 and round to the nearest $100; they are not newer survey results.

Getting into construction

How someone enters construction depends on the province and the trade.

Ontario. The hours for General Carpenter and Construction Craft Worker are in the Ontario apprenticeship table above. Carpenter and Construction Craft Worker are both Red Seal trades in Ontario.

Alberta. Alberta’s profiles list carpenter as Optional Certification and roofer as Optional Certification. Their apprentice wage minimums are in the Alberta table above. A roofing apprentice’s periods are 1,420 hours of work experience (periods 1 to 3) and 1,600 hours (period 4) (Alberta roofer profile).

Quebec. Construction in Quebec has its own system, run by the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ). In the construction industry covered by Quebec’s construction labour relations act (Act R-20), workers must hold a competency certificate. There are three kinds: an apprentice certificate, for a trade apprenticeship of one to five periods of 2,000 hours each depending on the trade; a journeyperson certificate; and an occupation certificate, for people working on construction sites as a labourer or specialized labourer. The industry favours graduates of a construction training program; the CCQ lets other candidates in only at times when a trade’s labour pool is short, and then under specific conditions (CCQ competency certificates).

Unions, overtime and contracting

Some construction workers are paid under collective agreements, which set wage schedules, overtime and benefits for each trade; others are paid whatever their employer offers, and some work as independent contractors. The wage tables above don’t separate these groups. A pension and benefits can be worth as much as a difference in hourly rate (total compensation versus salary), and when overtime is owed depends on the province’s rules or the agreement (overtime pay rules in Canada).

Welders

Welder pay in Canada differs by province, and two public sources measure it in different ways. Job Bank publishes hourly wages for welders and related machine operators (NOC 72106) in each province, and the 2021 Census reports what welders who worked full time all year earned in 2020.

Hourly wages for welders by province

Welders and related machine operators have their top provincial median in Newfoundland and Labrador, $38.41 an hour, and their bottom one in Prince Edward Island, $25.00; the Canada-wide median is $30.00. Someone paid that national median for 40-hour weeks all year (2,080 hours) would earn about $62,400; real hours, overtime and unpaid gaps between jobs move that figure in either direction.

Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada), NOC 72106. Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.

What welders earned in 2020: the Census

The 2021 Census asked about income in 2020, so its figures are older than Job Bank’s. For welders and related machine operators who worked the full year, full time, median employment income was $56,400 across Canada, $75,500 in Alberta and $55,600 in Ontario. The inflation-adjusted columns restate those 2020 amounts in today’s dollars using the Consumer Price Index; they show what the 2020 income would be worth now, not what welders are paid now.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, Table 98-10-0586-01: employment income in 2020 of people who worked full year, full time. Columns in September 2026 dollars multiply the 2020 figure by the change in the Consumer Price Index from its 2020 average to September 2026 and round to the nearest $100; they are not newer survey results.

Welding compared with other metal trades

Job Bank publishes national hourly wages for welding and five related metal trades. The figures don’t all come from the same survey; the last column shows the period and data source for each:

Source: Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada). Low is the 10th percentile and high the 90th percentile of wages.

Becoming a welder in Ontario

Each province and territory runs its own apprenticeship system, so hours and rules differ across the country. In Ontario, Skilled Trades Ontario’s welder program generally takes 6,000 hours (approximately three years): 5,280 hours of on-the-job work experience and 720 hours of in-school training, delivered in three levels of theoretical training.

Skilled Trades Ontario lists welder as a non-compulsory trade. In a non-compulsory trade in Ontario, you don't have to be certified to work, and a Certificate of Qualification earned in it doesn't have to be renewed. Some welding work carries its own legal requirement, though. Skilled Trades Ontario notes: “Certain tasks which may be performed by a Welder legally require the individual to be certified by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA).”

Passing the certifying exam leads to the Certificate of Qualification. Who can take the exam in Ontario, and what it costs (Skilled Trades Ontario):

• You can take the exam once you complete an Ontario apprenticeship in a trade that has a certifying exam and receive your Certificate of Apprenticeship.
• If you are an experienced worker who has not completed an apprenticeship in Ontario, you can take it once Skilled Trades Ontario approves you through a Trade Equivalency Assessment.
• You pay an exam fee of $150 + HST before you take the exam.
• If you are an apprentice with a completed training agreement, you don't pay the fee for your first attempt.
• If you don't pass, you must wait 30 days before you retake the exam.
• You pay the exam fee again for each later attempt.

In Ontario, welding is part of the Interprovincial Red Seal Program; the Red Seal endorsement section explains what that means.

Working as a contractor

Some welders work as independent contractors or run their own mobile welding business instead of drawing a wage. Pay then depends on the rates charged, billable hours and business costs, none of which the wage data above measures. Business income is reported and taxed differently from employment income; the self-employed tax deductions guide and the contractor vs employee tax comparison cover the details.

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• Average salary in Canada
• Highest-paying jobs in Canada

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