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 3rd 2024, craft professionals in Denver are:

• Paid higher than the national average in most trades. The exceptions are Concrete Workers, Drywall Installers, and Plumbers, where the national average is slightly higher than Denver's.

• Heavy Equipment Operators (HEOs) show the largest pay difference, with a significantly higher average in Denver.

• Current pay and desired pay vary slightly across trades. The desired pay improvement is significant in some trades, and a notable number of workers are willing to accept lower pay.

• The primary non-financial motivators are benefits, training, and career mobility, which influence workers across various trades.

• Overall, Denver has a higher number of female workers in most trades compared to the national average, with welders and plumbers having the highest share of female professionals.

• The relative importance of a "women-friendly" work environment is noticeably lower compared to national.

• Garney Construction, PCL Construction, Kiewit Corporation, Thompson Construction Group and Performance Contractors are prominent employers across trades.

• A high percentage of workers (around 75%) are authorized to work, indicating a strong workforce supply.

• A majority prefer English (77% to 89%), while a noticeable portion (22.7%) speaks Spanish.

• OSHA 10, Forklift Operator and CPR/First Aid are the most common certifications, with prevalence varying by trade.

• In Denver, a higher percentage of workers hold OSHA 10 certifications than nationally.

• Denver boasts a high connection rate of approximately 80%, while the national average is around 60%. Recruiters in Denver have an opportunity for effective outreach and/or networking opportunities.

• The data suggests a slightly higher union membership rate in Denver than nationwide for most trades (approx. 9%).

Current craft pay in Denver

Denver craft professionals have a higher hourly pay rate than the national average. The difference varies among the trades.

Craft pay expectations in Denver

The desired hourly pay rates in Denver and nationally are more or less in line, with the exception of Heavy Equipment Operators, which show a higher desired pay in Denver compared to the national average. Average pay ranges from $28.93 to $34.36, with a clear variance across trades. Desired pay improvements range from $0.25 to $3.20, highlighting the workers' aspirations for salary growth. In addition, a notable percentage (18.3% to 26.8%) of respondents are open to accepting lower pay, potentially highlighting a gap in wage expectations versus reality.

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Craft compensation flexibility in Denver

A significant percentage of professionals in all trades are willing to accept lower pay for the right job. The difference is not drastic in any particular trade.

Non-financial compensation trends

The most significant motivations for craft professionals in Denver are Benefits, Training & Upskilling, and Career Mobility are consistently important factors for workers across most trades. The relative importance of each motivator varies slightly depending on the trade. For example, Benefits appear to be most important for Welders, while Training and Upskilling is most important for Drywallers and Pipefitters.

Meet Denver’s biggest employers of craft professionals

Our data reveals that Garney Construction is one of the most prominent employer in Denver with carpenters, general laborers, concrete workers and pipelayers citing it as a past or current employer.

Skill, Experience & Certifications

There's a noticeable variation in average scores across different trades, suggesting inherent differences in skill complexity or assessment methods. Drywallers and Plumbers have the lowest average skill assessment scores in Denver.

Work authorization

A substantial majority of workers in all trades report being authorized to work in Denver. In addition, Pipefitters show a notably higher authorization percentage in Denver compared to the national average, and this is also true for Welders. Drywallers and Concrete Workers show a higher authorization percentage nationally than in Denver.

Gender and language

Denver has higher percentages of female workers in most trades compared to the national average. In the second chart, we see that a higher percentage of craft professionals in Denver, across most trades, prefer Spanish as their primary language.

Contactability and communication

Denver boasts a high connection rate of approximately 80%, while the national average is around 60%. This indicates that recruiters in Denver have a significantly higher success rate in connecting with craft professionals compared to the national level. On the flip side, Denver has a response time of around 5.5 days and the national average is significantly lower, at about 2.5 days. Communication methods vary only slightly vis a vis national averages.

This indicates that craft professionals in Denver take considerably longer to respond to recruiter outreach compared to the national average.

Union membership

Overall, craft professionals in Denver tend to have lower rates of union membership, with notable participation among Electricians (18.5%) and Plumbers (16.6%).

One-way commute distance

Denver has a lower average commute (11.51 miles) for carpenters compared to the national average. Pipelayers have a higher average (20.0 m) than national (18 m), but only by two miles.

Migration

Our migration insights show that a higher-than-average number of craft professionals are willing to relocate to Denver, making it an attractive relocation spot. The willingness to relocate to Denver ranges around 49% to 63% depending on the trade. Craft professionals interested in relocating come from across the country, but primarily from the South East.

OSHA

OSHA 10 and CPR/First Aid certifications are prevalent across multiple trades in Denver.

There are workforce characteristics in multiple trades, with major variances for Drywallers and Welders. The significant variation across trades points to potential issues of supply and demand in specific sectors.

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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.