What a welder is paid in Australia: the legal minimum under the award, the classification ladder either side of it, and what the market actually pays. Every figure sourced and dated.
Award floor
$29.45
The classification we quote is described in the ladder below. Award, Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award MA000010. Effective 1 July 2026.
Market band
$75,000 to $85,000
National advertised range, SEEK, refreshed 1 July 2026. Indicative day rate ~$350.
Every rung of the award, not just the one this role usually sits on. The highlighted row is the classification we quote as the floor for welder.
| Classification | Hourly minimum | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| C14 engineering/manufacturing employee level I | $25.74 | |
| C13 level II | $26.44 | |
| C12 level III | $27.08 | |
| C11 level IV | $27.97 | |
| C10 tradesperson level I | $29.45 | |
| C9 tradesperson level II | $30.38 | |
| C8 tradesperson special class level I | $31.30 | |
| C7 tradesperson special class level II | $32.13 | |
| C6 advanced engineering tradesperson level I | $33.77 |
Unlike the electrical, plumbing and construction awards, these are base rates. Allowances are paid on top rather than being baked in. That matters when comparing a manufacturing rate against a trade rate from one of the all-purpose awards, because the two numbers are not measuring the same thing.
The floor is the law and the market is what roles actually close at. On this role the distance between them is $16,807 a year at the bottom of the band, which is the number worth knowing before you set an offer. Ordinary hours only: no overtime, no penalty rates, no superannuation.
No occupational licence, because welding is a certified trade rather than a licensed one, and the certifications are what actually matter. A welder is qualified against a specific procedure: a process, a parent material, a thickness range and a welding position. Qualification to the relevant Australian Standard for the work, structural steel or pressure equipment for instance, is what a fabricator or an inspector will ask to see. Process matters more than most job advertisements admit. Manual metal arc, gas metal arc, flux cored and gas tungsten arc are different disciplines, and a first class hand in one is not automatically qualified in another. Position matters just as much: overhead and vertical up work is a different discipline again from flat work, and plenty of good hands are qualified for one and not the other. A confined space or hot work permit attaches to the task and the site rather than to the person, and a white card applies on construction sites.
The 2025 Occupation Shortage List rates 322313 Welder (First Class) as in shortage nationally and in every state and territory. That list is the official assessment, published by Jobs and Skills Australia, and it is the only shortage figure we will quote. Source, checked 27 July 2026.
Welding qualifications are tied to a procedure and they lapse if they are not maintained, so the pool available for any particular job is far smaller than the number of people in Australia who can weld. Add the fact that pressure and structural work require different qualifications again, and a vacancy that looks like it has a national talent pool behind it often has a regional handful.
Asking for a welder without naming the process, the material or the standard. Nobody reading it can tell whether the job is theirs, so the applications arrive in volume and almost none of them match the work. The second is assuming the award rate reflects the market, which on this role it does not: the award treats a welder and a boilermaker identically and the market does not. The third is letting a certification lapse on an existing employee and discovering it at the worst moment.
Under the award, yes. Both sit at C10 and both have the same legal minimum. In the market they are not paid the same, and the gap is substantial.
Yes. Welding qualifications are tied to a process, a material and a position, and they need to be maintained. That is a real constraint on who can do a given job.
Not directly. The manufacturing award publishes base rates with allowances on top, while the electrical, plumbing and construction awards publish all-purpose rates with allowances already included.
Award rates are the adult full-time minimum for the classification named, effective the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guides. Casual loading of 25 per cent sits on top. This award publishes base rates, so allowances are paid on top of the hourly figures shown. Market bands are the national advertised ranges published on SEEK salary pages, refreshed 1 July 2026, quoted as published. Annual conversions use 38 ordinary hours a week over 52 weeks and exclude overtime, penalty rates and superannuation. Award minimums are national, so these figures do not vary by state. Checked 27 July 2026. The award that applies to any individual is decided by the work actually performed and by the employer's industry: see our award finder, or ask the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94.