Are Woodworkers In Demand and Is There a Demand For Woodworking Careers?
This text will respond to the inquiry as completely as we humanly can. After all, it’s good to know if there’s a need for woodworkers, and if so, how much of a demand is there, and is woodworking a career worth pursuing, or should woodworkers merely practice their craft as a hobby and consider a full-time job doing something else?
What Exactly Do Woodworkers Do?
Woodworkers create a wide range of items, including picture frames, cabinets, furniture, and a variety of diverse endeavors, employing various woods, veneers, and laminates. They’re incredibly skilled and at ease dealing with wood. They understand the many kinds of wood to work with, what projects the various kinds of wood are best for, and where to purchase the most efficient wood for their projects. They are also quite comfortable with the many sorts of woodworking instruments . Completed woodworkers understand that the best tools, and the right kinds of tools, are required to complete the best projects.
Surroundings for Woodworking Work
Many woodworkers work in manufacturing businesses. Working conditions for woodworkers typically include equipment noise and wood dust. Airborne particles can also enter the eyes, causing problems with vision. For these reasons, protective gear such as goggles, earplugs, and respirators are quite important. Dirt collectors are used in the majority of woodworking services. Technology training is also quite important since numerous woodworking mishaps may occur if security measures are not applied correctly.
Discover How to Become a Woodworker
In many cases, children are introduced to woodworking in middle school, or they are introduced to woodworking by a parent, grandparent, or another adult. A passion for working with wood may develop at an early age. To consider a career in woodworking, a teenager must have at least rudimentary knowledge by the time he or she graduates from high school. A high school graduation or equivalent is sometimes required to develop into a woodworker since the skills required (studying and writing, as well as strong arithmetic and computer abilities) are expected of the woodworker. Though certain entry-level tasks may be learned in a very short period of time, becoming a great and extremely skilled carpenter needs a significantly longer period of on-the-job training. Understanding how to utilize computer-controlled equipment effectively may also be required in woodworking manufacturing services.
Woodworking Pay
In response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for woodworkers in May 2021 was $36,710. That is a term for all those who work full-time in the woodworking profession and are compensated by an organization. This does not include those who operate their own woodworking business. The BLS has provided the following graph of Woodworking earnings from May 2021:
Job Outlook
The good news is that employment for woodworkers is expected to grow by 8% over the next decade, from 2020 to 2030. That is neither slower nor faster than the average for other jobs.
According to the BLS, around 28,400 woodworker job vacancies are expected every year on average during the previous decade. These opportunities are often created by the need to hire replacement personnel. These are employees who change jobs or totally leave the labor force, such as when they retire.
The recovery from the COVID-19 recession, which began in 2020 and is predicted to begin early in the decade, will account for a large amount of the estimated increase in employment in these occupations.
Excessive demand for wood items for house renovation efforts and creating external structures for restaurants and various businesses will drive development for woodworkers early in the decade. Woodworkers are expected to be in demand for residential and industrial property repairs and improvements. However, automation, particularly the use of computer numerical control (CNC) equipment in the manufacturing of wood products, might reduce overall need for these people during the next decade.
Occupational Employment Statistics
Statistics on Occupational Employment and Wages (OEWS) program conducts annual research on employment and salary estimates for over 800 jobs. These estimates are available for the entire country, individual states, and metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions. These links seek information from OEWS employment and salary information maps by state and geography.
- Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters
- Furniture finishers
- Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing
Similar Occupations
The chart here shows widespread related occupations to those within the woodworking segment. Remember that many of those occupations show wages for those who have graduated school or are rather more labor intensive than woodworking typically is:
Conclusion
Is there a prerequisite for woodworkers, and is it the best option for you? That is a question you must answer for yourself – if you genuinely enjoy it and are ok with a somewhat lower salary, then it may just be the thing for you! If you do not qualify for any of these, you may choose to keep woodworking as a hobby and sell the occasional project at flea fairs or in your local community.