Every week, thousands of craft professionals across the U.S. join the Skillit platform to connect with the nation’s best and biggest general and specialty trade contractors. This generates millions of proprietary data points which we anonymize and structure into labor intelligence to help decision-makers gain a competitive edge in a tight labor market.

Key Findings

As of December 19th 2024, craft professionals in Charleston are:

• Paid higher compared to the national average (1.05X), except for HEOs and welders, which are slightly lower.

• Consequently, the desired pay in Charleston is only slightly higher than or similar to the national averages, with a $.50- $2 desired pay increase per hour.

• Charleston recruiters should note that there is potential for increased compensation to attract and retain workers in most trades, because there's a consistent pattern of desired pay exceeding current pay.

• Willingness to accept lower pay varies across trades and is consistently lower in Charleston than the national average (0.96X), yet the percentage is not uniform across trades.

• The primary non-financial motivators are benefits (42.3%l) and training (29%), whereas the importance of career mobility varies greatly.

• Craft professionals in Charleston are primarily employed by companies like Zachry Construction Corporation and W.K. Yates & Sons Construction.

• The percentage of female craft professionals remains significantly below 10% . In fact, gender imbalance is stark in many trades, with a strong male majority. Gender balance is also not preeminent as a non-financial motivator.

• Average years of experience is 17.16 across all trades.

• There is considerable specialization in certain trades (e.g., electricians) and broader skill sets in others (e.g., general labor). Recruiters may find this interesting when staffing for specific projects, that require a multi-talented workforce.

• Some trades have a higher concentration of Spanish speakers than others, with electricians standing out at 17%, which is remarkable.

• Recruiters in Charleston have an overall easier time contacting craft professionals compared to the national average, and craft professionals seem to have a slight preference to SMS as means of communication.

• Charleston often shows a higher percentage in union membership per trade, compared to the national average. Membership varies slightly amongst trades.

• One-way commutes hover between 40 and 50 miles, which is considerably higher than the national average.

• There is significant willingness to relocate to Charleston from craft professionals living from 270 to 310 miles away - with South Carolina, Florida and Georgia being the most popular origin states.

• In Charleston, OSHA 10 certification is consistently higher (62%) than OSHA 30 certification (26%).

• Overall, there is substantial heterogeneity across the different trades in terms of workforce demographics, motivators, compensation expectations, and skill levels. Recruiters may find this information useful in terms of recruitment, workforce planning, and compensation strategies tailored to specific trades.

Current craft pay in Charleston

Overall, most trades in Charleston have higher pay compared to the national average.

Craft pay expectations in Charleston

In general, the desired pay in Charleston is only slightly higher than or similar to the national averages, with minor variations for certain trades.

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Craft compensation flexibility in Charleston

Overall, a lower percentage (18.23%) of craft professionals in Charleston are willing to accept lower pay than their national counterparts (19.06%).

Non-financial compensation trends

Overall, benefits are the leading non-financial motivation, followed by training & upskilling and career mobility, while the focus on women-friendly environments is comparatively less prominent. Benefits reach: 50%-75% for various trades and 42% in average, while career mobility stands out as well at 29% across al trades.

Meet Charleston’s biggest employers of craft professionals

Our data reveals that Zachry Construction is one of the most prominent employers in Charleston with over 200 carpenters, concrete workers, heavy equipment operators, drywallers, plumbers, welders, pipefitters and pipelayers on Skillit citing it as a past or current employer.

Skill, Experience & Certifications

Craft professionals in Charleston have comparable or slightly higher skill assessment scores in several trades, particularly in carpentry and drywalling, while electricians score slightly lower than the national average. Laborers and plumbers show a high degree of overlap and versatility in trades.

Work authorization

The majority of craft professionals across all trades indicate they are authorized to work, with a local average of 85% across all trades.

Gender and language

The percentage of female professionals varies substantially among different trades. Some trades show a relatively higher proportion of women (e.g., around 7% in some cases), while others exhibit much lower representation (e.g., below 4%). A noticeable percentage of workers in several trades list Spanish as their preferred language, suggesting a significant Hispanic/Latino presence in Charleston. The percentages are not negligible, ranging up to 17% in some cases, such as electricians.

Contactability and communication

The average connection rate in Charleston is considerably higher (approximately 70%) than the national average (around 55%), and SMS is the most efficient communication method for connecting with craft professionals. The average response time in Charleston is shorter (approximately 2.4 days) than the national average (around 3 days).

In sum, the data indicates that craft professionals in Charleston respond more quickly to recruiter outreach, they also respond faster and prefer SMS to other means of communication.

Union membership

In most trades, the percentage of union members in Charleston is higher than the national average, although the differences are not dramatic in every instance. This suggests a potentially stronger union presence in the Charleston area's craft workforce.

One-way commute distance

The average commute distance in Charleston varies more across trades than the national average. It fluctuates, reaching higher values in some trades (e.g., HEOS) and lower in others (e.g., plumbers). This may be an indicator that the variation may be tied to job site locations or housing availability, for example.

Migration

The majority of those willing to relocate to Charleston come from three states: South Carolina (28.5%), Georgia (25.3%), and Florida (21.9%). These three states account for over 75% of the total. Recruiters should note that craft professionals across different trades exhibit a relatively uniform willingness to relocate to Charleston, with average distances for relocation clustered around 300 miles.

OSHA

Charleston professionals have a higher level of OSHA 10 compared to the national average. Within Charleston, OSHA 10 certification is consistently higher than OSHA 30 certification, and OSHA 62 remains a specialized certification, with plumbers standing out in this segment.

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Our methodology

All data included in this report is as of August 30, 2024 and based on the anonymized data from over 20,000 Skillit member profiles located in, or interested in relocating to, Dallas and 12 months of communications between employers and craft professionals aggregated across the Skillit platform.