Negotiating Pay in Skilled Trades: What Actually Works
Skilled trades pay moves on license level, hours and shop rates — here is how to build a raise case your foreman or the owner can actually act on.
Quick answer
- Anchor on published data: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published a median annual wage for electricians and for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters for May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Look up the current national, state and metro figures for your trade in the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables before you name a number.
- Know the budget your boss works inside: WorldatWork's 2023–2024 Salary Budget Survey reported employers' projected average salary increase budget for 2024 (WorldatWork, 2023), and a Mercer survey found employers planned higher merit increase budgets for 2024 than they awarded in 2023 (SHRM reporting Mercer, 2023). Ask what this year's percentage is where you work.
- Demand helps your case but does not guarantee it: BLS projects about 72,700 electrician openings and about 42,000 plumber, pipefitter and steamfitter openings each year on average from 2025 to 2035 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), while 45 percent of employers told Mercer that economic uncertainty was the main reason for slowing annual increases (SHRM reporting Mercer, 2023).
Negotiating pay in the trades works differently from an office job. Your rate is tied to license or classification level, the hours and callouts you absorb, and in a union shop to an agreement that already sets scale for you. What works is evidence: what you are licensed to do, what you completed without supervision, and what published wage data says for your classification in your area.
Bring two outside numbers — the published median wage for your trade and the increase budget your employer is working inside — plus a written list of what you did, to a scheduled meeting rather than a hallway conversation.
Before You Ask: Research and Preparation
Each step should end with something you can print, hand over or read off a phone screen. If a step produces nothing you can show, it is not finished.
- Print the published wage data for your trade and your area. BLS published a median annual wage for electricians and for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters for May 2025, alongside state and metropolitan-area tables (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Print the national, state and metro figures for your trade. Write on the printout whether each number is a median or a mean and whether it is hourly or annual — a median annual figure assumes full-time, year-round hours.
- Write out your current total compensation, line by line. Base rate first. Then, separately: overtime hours in the last 12 months, callout or on-call premiums, per diem, travel pay, tool or truck allowance, bonus, and any commission on sold work. Overtime can be a large share of take-home pay in the trades, so raising base rate and protecting overtime hours are two different asks. Finish with two totals — base, and gross from your most recent year-end paystub or W-2.
- Build a one-page achievement list with numbers on it. Five to eight lines from the past 12 months: jobs run without supervision, callbacks avoided, apprentices trained, inspections passed first time, downtime prevented, permits pulled. Attach a count, a date or a dollar value of work to every line.
- Document your license and classification status. Most states require electricians to be licensed and most states require plumbers to be licensed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), and most workers in both trades come up through an apprenticeship, with some attending a technical or vocational-technical school first (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Collect your license number and expiry, apprenticeship hours logged, code update classes and any certifications added since your last raise. A move from apprentice to journeyman, or journeyman to master, is the clearest basis for a rate change there is.
- Find out what budget your employer is working inside. Ask your supervisor or office manager two factual questions: when the review cycle falls, and what percentage the company budgeted for increases this year. For context, WorldatWork's 2023–2024 Salary Budget Survey reported a projected average salary increase budget for 2024 (WorldatWork, 2023), and a Mercer survey found employers planned higher merit increase budgets for 2024 than they awarded in 2023, including total salary increase budgets for nonunionized employees (SHRM reporting Mercer, 2023). Check the current year's published figures before relying on either.
- Check whether a collective agreement already sets your rate. In a union shop, scale, progression steps and fringe contributions come from the agreement, so your conversation is about classification, upgrade timing, foreman differential, shift premium and overtime assignment. Get the current wage sheet from your local.
- Write down three numbers. Your target rate, your acceptable rate, and the rate below which you would look elsewhere. Put them on paper so you are not doing arithmetic while someone watches.
- Book the meeting. Fifteen minutes with the person who can approve a rate change, away from a job site.
What to Say
The brackets below are deliberate. Fill them with your own numbers from steps 1, 2 and 7, and quote only figures you can trace to published data or your own paystub.
Naming your number on an hourly rate
Rate request, hourly
"Thanks for making time. I'd like to talk about my rate. I've been running service calls solo since February, I've trained two apprentices, and my last inspections passed with no callbacks. I pulled the published wage data for our trade and our metro area and, with my license level, I'm asking to go from $[current rate] to $[target rate] an hour — that's [percentage] percent. Here's the one-page summary."
Naming a percentage on a salaried or flat-rate role
Percentage request, annual
"I know the company budgets a set percentage for increases each year. I'm asking for more than that, and here's why: I added my master license in March and I've covered permitting for the whole crew since. I'm asking for [percentage] percent on base, from $[current salary] to $[target salary], effective next pay period rather than at the annual review."
Handling the budget pushback
When they say there's no room
"I hear you on the budget. Two things, then. Put in writing what the rate would be and what has to be true for it to happen — a license, a number of jobs run solo, a date. And if base is frozen this quarter, let's talk about what isn't base: first call on overtime, a tool allowance, or the company paying my code update class. Then a date in 90 days to revisit the rate."
If a collective agreement sets your rate
Classification, not rate
"The agreement sets my rate, so I'm not asking you to change it. I'm asking about classification — I've run foreman work on the last three jobs without the differential. Can we correct that and backdate it to the start dates on those job sheets?"
Two habits matter more than wording. Say your number, then stop talking. And email a short summary the same day, so what was agreed exists in writing.
Negotiation Checklist
Work through this the day before. Every line is a yes or a no.
- I have printed the published median wage for my trade from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables — national, state and metro (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025).
- I have marked on that printout whether each figure is a median or a mean, and hourly or annual.
- I have written down my base rate and, separately, my gross pay for the last 12 months including overtime, per diem, bonus and commission.
- I have counted my overtime hours for the last 12 months.
- I have written three to eight accomplishments from the past year, each with a number, date or dollar value attached.
- I have a current copy of my license with number and expiry, plus a list of certifications and code classes added since my last raise.
- I have written down my logged apprenticeship hours or my current classification step.
- I have asked what percentage my employer budgeted for increases this year and when the review cycle falls.
- If I am in a union shop, I have the current wage sheet from my local in hand.
- I have written a target rate, an acceptable rate and a walk-away rate.
- I have one non-base item I would accept instead, such as a tool allowance, a paid code class, or first call on overtime.
- I have booked a specific time with the person who can approve a rate change.
- I have a one-page document I can hand over or email.
- I have written in my calendar the date I will follow up if the answer is "not now."
Frequently asked questions
How big a raise can I realistically ask for?
Work from two reference points instead of a gut feeling. The first is published wage data for your trade and area — BLS published a median annual wage for electricians and for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters for May 2025, with state and metro tables alongside it (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). The second is the increase budget your employer is using: WorldatWork's 2023–2024 Salary Budget Survey reported employers' projected average salary increase budget for 2024 (WorldatWork, 2023). A request that moves you toward the published figure for your classification is easier to approve than a round number. Check the current-year versions of both; they are revised annually.
Is this a good time to be asking?
Demand is projected to be strong in both trades: BLS projects employment growth much faster than the average for all occupations from 2025 to 2035, with about 72,700 electrician openings and about 42,000 plumber, pipefitter and steamfitter openings each year on average over the decade (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). Employer caution is real too — a Mercer senior principal for career described compensation increases as declining slightly while remaining "well above pre-pandemic levels," and 45 percent of employers told Mercer that economic uncertainty was the primary reason for slowing annual increases (SHRM reporting Mercer, 2023). No tactic works every time; a documented, specific ask simply fails less often than a vague one.
Should I negotiate base rate or total pay?
Base rate first, because overtime, callout premiums and shift differentials are usually calculated from it, and because overtime hours vanish when a job wraps. Treat tool allowances, per diem, paid code classes, license renewal reimbursement and bonus as secondary asks you can trade for if base is frozen. When you compare yourself to published data, compare base against base — a BLS median annual wage figure is not the same as your W-2 total if much of your earnings came from overtime.
What if my rate is set by a collective agreement?
Then the conversation is about classification and assignment, not rate. Raise upgrade timing, foreman or general foreman differential, shift premium, travel and per diem, and which jobs you are dispatched to. Bring the current wage sheet and your logged hours. Most workers in both trades come up through an apprenticeship, with some attending a technical or vocational-technical school first (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), so documented hours and completed classes are what move you up a step.
What should I do if the answer is no?
Ask for three things in writing: the rate the company would consider, the conditions attached, and a date to revisit. Then decide whether to meet those conditions or test the market. Because most states require electricians to be licensed and most states require plumbers to be licensed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), confirm what your license allows in any state you would move to before treating another offer as comparable — licensing, reciprocity and continuing education rules are set state by state.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Electricians : Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters : Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025)
Written by
Priya tracks wages, layoffs, and the slow shifts in what counts as a stable job. She writes for readers trying to make sense of numbers that rarely match their own experience.
