Craft labor insights in Charlotte, NC
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 28th 2024, craft professionals in Charlotte:
Are paid .99X the national average. However, their desired pay improvement is 1.02X national at $2.49 hourly.
Craft professionals in Charlotte are 1.03X more likely to accept lower pay.
Benefits are the primary non financial motivator at 42.3%, 1.28X compared to national. This is followed by training and upskilling at (28.8%) with women-friendly environments lagging behind at 9%.
Major construction specific employers include Lithko Construction, Blythe Construction Inc. and Hoopaugh Grading, amongst others.
HEOs, plumbers, drywallers and welders all rank higher in skills assessments and all surpass national averages, while welders carpenters, welders and pipelayers lag behind.
Average years of experience is 1.05X higher than national and stands at 16.50 years across all trades.
Forklift operator and OSHA 10 are the most common certifications, followed by first aid.
The proportion of individuals authorized to work in Phoenix is 0.84X national (68% vs. 80%). The ‘would rather not say’ category is also considerable at 24%.
Women in the trades is low at 5.5% on average for all trades. However, the share of female welders in Charlotte is 10% which is high compared to national data (6.7%).
A significantly large percentage of craft professionals prefer English as their main language, standing at 89% total.
Connection rates are more or less equal to national rates as is the connection speed. The preferred method of communication is interchangeable as craft professionals have higher rates of preference for SMS, call and email than national. Recruiters should note that this helps them diversify outreach methods and also test new ways of contacting craft talent.
Union membership is lower in Charlotte than national, at 11% versus 12.2%
Phoenix craft professionals have a 37 mile commute, which is 3X national.
Migration to Charlotte is primarily North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, and drywallers are the most likely to want to relocate to the state.
OSHA 10 is significant at 66% of craft professionals, but OSHA 62 is very low at only 1.31. or 0.4X national. This indicates that there are lower levels of specialization in Charlotte, compared to nationally.
Overall Charlotte presents a market where craft professionals have set pay expectations that are by en large met by their employers. They are also flexible in contactability and have on average less years of experience compared to other markets like Denver. They prefer English as their working language, however, labor authorization seems to need improvement. Recruiters should note that employment opportunities could be complemented by interesting upskilling and benefits programs.
Current craft pay in Charlotte
Current pay is highest for pipefitters and pipelayers and on the other hand,is almost 1:1 with national averages across all trades.
Craft pay expectations in Charlotte
Desired hourly pay varies across different trades in relation to national data. Welders desire the highest pay improvements ($4), followed by electricians ($3.3).
Ready to grow?
Get in touch to connect with thousands of vetted craft professionals near you.
Craft compensation flexibility in Charlotte
Overall, the willingness to accept lower pay is consistently low across all trades and stands at $.2 per hour. This could indicate a pretty strong demand market for craft professionals.
Non-financial compensation trends
Benefits and training/upskilling are both significant motivators, especially for carpenters, laborers, concrete workers and HEOs. However, benefits are by far the biggest motivator at 1.28X national. Recruiters should note that offering great benefit packages can be an advantage, particularly considering the lack of perceived flexibility in terms of hourly rates.
Meet Charlotte’s biggest employers of craft professionals
Our data reveals that https Lithko Contracting is one of the most prominent employers in Tampa with over 120 carpenters, concrete workers, heavy equipment operators, drywallers, plumbers, pipefitters and pipelayers on Skillit citing it as a past or current employer.
Skill, Experience & Certifications
HEOs, plumbers, drywallers and welders all rank higher in skills assessments and all surpass national averages, while welders, carpenters and pipelayers lag behind. In terms of common areas of knowledge, laborers have significant experience overlap and HEOs have a unique skill set, with less overlap noted, while the carpenters’ experience overlaps considerably with drywallers and concrete workers.
Work authorization
The data indicates that the majority of craft professionals in Charlotte are authorized to work, however, this is still lower than national levels (68% vs. 80%). The ‘would rather not say’ portion of craft professionals is also very high at 25%. Pipefitters and pipelayers have the highest levels of work authorization, oscillating at 85%.
Gender and language
The share of female craft professionals in Charlotte is low, at 5.5% on average across all trades. The lowest representation is for plumbers at 1.9% compared to welders, who stand out at 10%. This may indicate that special initiatives have been taken to train women within this trade. Recruiters should note that research on any special trade schools or initiatives may provide examples of how to integrate women in the trades. On the other hand, English is the preferred language, standing at 8.9%, with Spanish lagging behind at 11%.
Contactability and communication
There is positive data in terms of connection success, response time and methods of communication. All indicators show that Charlotte craft professionals are open to hear from recruiters. This reinforces the pay data, which shows a strong demand market for craft professionals.
Union membership
Union membership is .9X national averages and electricians and drywallers show the highest level of union memberships at 14% each.
One-way commute distance
Local one-way commute in Phoenix stands at 37 miles on average across all trades vis a vis 12 miles national. This is 3X longer, comparatively.
Migration
The majority of professionals willing to relocate to Charlotte are from North Carolina (34.%), followed by South Carolina (28%) and Florida (16%). Drywallers have the highest willingness to relocate (59%), followed by plumbers and welders (49%), respectively.
Welders and HEOs are willing to travel farthest to work in Charlotte (about 270 miles), while drywallers are willing to travel the shortest distance, roughly 158 miles.
OSHA
Charlotte shows higher OSHA 10 certification for welders, pipefitters and pipelayers (63%-64%) whereas carpenters show the lowest (58%). OSHA 30 ranks highest for plumbers at 27% and OSHA 62 for welders at 5.9%. Unfortunately, OSHA 40 and OSHA 62 are well under national averages at .5X and .4X respectively. This could mean that there is a less regulated market in Charlotte, or less demand for specialized trades.
Get to know craft professionals elsewhere
Want more craft labor with your insights?
Talk to our team today about accessing the nation’s fastest-growing database of vetted craft professionals, along with real-time craft labor analytics, market intelligence, and more.
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.
Like or share this post:
