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The education: The education pathway for carpenters is usually
high school plus an apprenticeship or on-the-job training. Most
employers do not require their carpenters to have college degrees.
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters
The job: Plumbers work with pipes and piping fixtures, from instal-
lation to maintenance to replacement and beyond. This work may
take them into homes, businesses, industrial factories, or other
places where pipes are present. Many plumbers are regularly on call
for emergencies (such as a burst pipe in the middle of the night), so
those considering this career should be prepared for the occasional
nighttime, weekend, and holiday work.
The pay: The median wage for plumbers in the U.S. is $61,550 per
year.
The prospects: The BLS is projecting two percent job growth in this
sector between 2022 and 2032—equivalent to nearly 11,000 new
jobs.
The education: Some plumbers learn their trade through appren-
ticeships and on-the-job training. Others opt to attend vocational
colleges. In addition to this education and training, most states
require plumbers to go through a licensing process before they can
start working in the industry.
Electricians
The job: Electricians are charged with installing, maintaining,
repairing, and troubleshooting all the electrical power systems
for our homes, our businesses, our factories, and even our public
infrastructure. It’s thanks to the work electricians do that we
can rely on our light switches to turn on the lights or that we can
trust our power outlets to (safely) deliver power to our appliances
or electronics. Communications systems, control systems, and
security systems are just a few other installations that electricians
work with on a regular basis. Similar to plumbers, electricians and