Robotics workforce
Welder pay and outlook: $53,750 median, 437,700 jobs, +2%
$53,750 was the median annual pay for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in May 2025, or $25.84 an hour, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
The occupation held about 437,700 jobs in 2025, with employment projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, slower than average, an increase of roughly 10,300 jobs over the decade. BLS still projects about 40,300 openings a year, most of them to replace workers who leave.
Welding cells are a core robot application, so these figures get pulled into automation stories. This page traces the human occupation outlook and keeps it separate from any robot-displacement claim, which the outlook does not make.
Data covers BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook; wages May 2025 and projections 2025 to 2035. Published 2026-07-24. Last reviewed 2026-10-06. Last updated 2026-10-06. Edited by Mike Ramsey / Reliable Media.
The figures and where they come from
Each figure is rated for how safely you can cite it today. Ratings judge current usability, not whether a number was ever correct.
| Figure | What it is | Source | Citation Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $53,750 | Median annual wage (May 2025) | [A] | High | Median pay, May 2025. |
| $25.84 | Median hourly wage | [A] | High | Median hourly wage, May 2025. |
| $39,240 | Lowest 10% earned less than | [A] | High | The bottom decile in May 2025. |
| $77,530 | Highest 10% earned more than | [A] | High | The top decile in May 2025. |
| 437,700 jobs | Employment level 2025 | [A] | High | Employment in the occupation in 2025. |
| +2% | Projected employment growth, 2025 to 2035 | [A] | High | Slower than average. |
| +10,300 jobs | Projected employment change, 2025 to 2035 | [A] | Medium | Absolute employment change over the decade, about 10,300 jobs. |
| about 40,300 | Openings projected each year | [A] | Medium | Mostly replacement of workers who leave the occupation, which is why yearly openings far exceed the decade's net growth. |
Why the numbers disagree
Outlook is not displacement. The 2% growth projection is the BLS's forecast for the human occupation; it is not a count of jobs automated away, and it already reflects whatever automation the BLS expects over the decade. A robotics writer who cites it as evidence of jobs lost to robots has the sign and the meaning wrong, since a projection of growth cannot double as a tally of losses.
Median hides the spread. A $53,750 median ($25.84 an hour) is the midpoint, and BLS puts the lowest 10 percent under $39,240 and the highest 10 percent above $77,530. Pick either tail and you can tell a very different pay story from the same occupation, so treat the median as a center point rather than a typical ceiling or floor.
Job-title boundaries. Welders overlap with related production and machine roles, and a robotic welding operator or a maintenance technician tending a welding cell may be filed under a different occupation, so the 437,700 count depends on where the BLS draws the line, and a broader or narrower definition would move it.
Wage year versus projection window. The pay figures are May 2025 medians, while the growth is a 2025-to-2035 forecast, so the page pairs a current-year number with a decade-out one. Keep the dates attached to each, or a reader may apply the 2025 wage to the future workforce the projection describes.
How to cite these figures
Cite it as BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: a May 2025 median wage of $53,750 ($25.84 an hour) for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, about 437,700 jobs, projected to grow 2% through 2035.
Give the growth as a rate and a level: 2%, or about 10,300 more jobs, over 2025 to 2035. The pair keeps a small percentage from sounding either larger or smaller than the headcount behind it.
Say 'human occupation outlook.' If you use it in a robotics piece, make clear it is not a forecast of jobs replaced by welding robots, since the two are easy to conflate.
Where people go wrong
Reading the 2% projection as the pace of robot displacement. It is the BLS employment outlook for the occupation, with expected automation already baked in.
Quoting the $53,750 median as a typical ceiling or floor. It is the midpoint of a range that runs from under $39,240 to over $77,530.
Treating 437,700 as every welding-related job. Some robotic welding roles are classified under other occupations.
How we checked
The figures trace to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers. We opened it and located the median pay, the hourly wage, the employment level, the growth rate, and the projected change before publishing, so every number on this page points at one primary page.
Wages are the May 2025 median ($53,750 a year, $25.84 an hour); employment is 437,700 for 2025, and the projection is 2% growth from 2025 to 2035, about 10,300 jobs. We carried the BLS's own numbers rather than deriving or rounding them.
We rate the projected change Medium confidence because a decade-out projection is inherently less certain than a current-year wage or headcount, and we flag it as such in the table so a reader weights it accordingly.
Refreshed in October 2026 for the Handbook's May 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. The previous version reported a $51,000 median and 457,300 jobs for 2024. The 2025 job count is lower, and the Handbook page does not explain the change, so we report both years rather than characterise it.
Full source list
Primary sources, with live links. Every figure above traces to one of these.
- [A]U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2025
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers: Occupational Outlook Handbook
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/welders-cutters-solderers-and-brazers.htm
Common questions
- What is the median pay for welders?
- $53,750 a year in May 2025, or $25.84 an hour, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Half earned more, half less.
- How many welding jobs are there, and how fast is the field growing?
- About 437,700 jobs in 2025, with employment projected to grow 2% through 2035, slower than average, an increase of roughly 10,300 jobs. That count depends on where the BLS draws the occupation's boundary, since some robotic welding roles fall under other titles.
- Does the 2% growth mean robots are not taking welding jobs?
- The 2% figure is the BLS's outlook for the human occupation, and it already factors in expected automation. It is a projection of growth for the role, not a separate robot-displacement forecast, so it cannot be read as a count of jobs lost to robots.
- Why is welding relevant to robotics?
- Welding is one of the most common industrial robot applications, so welder pay and staffing often come up in automation coverage. This page keeps the occupation figures distinct from robot claims.
More data, traced to source
- Electro-mechanical technician pay and jobs: the BLS numbers
The BLS tracks electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians, the closest official occupation to a robotics maintenance tech. Median pay is $73,900, with about 15,700 jobs and growth projected at about the average rate.
- Who keeps the robots running, and what they earn: $64,520
The people who keep factory robots and machinery running are industrial machinery mechanics: 446,900 of them, a median of $64,520 a year, in a field growing much faster than average. A different, larger job than 'robotics technician.'
- What a robotics technician actually earns, and why the wage is hard to find
There is no federal wage line for a robotics technician. The government folds the job into a broader category with a median near $73,900 a year. This page shows where that number comes from and what it does and does not cover.