• 429,000 welding professionals worked in the United States in 2004, the most recent year for which data are available. Many welders are engaged in work critical to the nation’s well-being, such as energy production, highway transportation, manufacturing, and military applications.
• The average age of welders in today’s workforce is 54. Many of these people will retire within the next 10 years, creating a tremendous need for skilled and experienced workers to replace them. The U.S. Department of Labor predicts a shortage of 250,000 welding professionals by the year 2010.
• High-tech manufacturing applications using newly developed materials are creating a greater need than ever for a highly educated workforce, and nowhere is this truer than in the field of joining and cutting.
• A significant portion of the U.S. energy and transportation infrastructure was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. Now, 40 to 50 years later, skilled welders are in demand to maintain and update these facilities and structures.
• Welding plays a key role in the U.S. economy. Welding-related expenditures in manufacturing, construction, and repair and maintenance totaled $34.1 billion in the year 2000. Labor represented nearly two thirds of these expenditures, or $22.4 billion.
• Jobs that require significant technical skills, such as welding, are expected to increase 50 percent in the next ten years.
• Some 60 percent of the new jobs in the early 21st century will require skills that are held by just 20 percent of the present workforce. Welding is a prime example of such skills specialization.
• The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, says "job prospects should be excellent" for welders through 2014.
• Nearly half of U. S. industries report difficulties locating qualified individuals with welding expertise – from apprentice welders to engineers.
• Advanced technology is creating more uses for welding in the workplace and expanding employment opportunities.
• Computer skills are increasing in importance as welding professionals become responsible for programming computer-controlled welding machines, including robots and lasers.
• Industrial manufacturing is at its highest level in 20 years, and new orders are at their highest since 1950 (U. S. Dept. of Commerce, “Manufacturing in America,” January 2004). This creates a top job market for those skilled in welding, a primary manufacturing process.
