What should an apprentice be paid, if he/ or she has 2000 hours of residential electrical experience? I want open answers! This is an important question for me!
you are talking less then one year exp.you still have a lot to learn.but you can allways ask your boss for a raise.
my inexperienced "helpers" start in the $10-$11 range. when they enter an apprenticeship program, they receive approx. $1.00 per year increase during their progress through the program. their big increase comes when they complete the program and pass the test for intermediate JW. this surely varies from state to state, as well as employer to employer.
gramps
There is a wide range depending on where in the country you are located. Is there anyway you can check around and see what some other electricians are paying helpers? I started out at $12/hr back in 1994, but the cost of living is high where I am from.
Can you even get a day laborer for 8 or 9 bucks an hour anymore?
Around here, if you can walk,talk and read a tape,you can make $10 an hour.
Rules of thumb abound, the most popular of which is 1/2 of what the co's hourly rate is, stepped down from license thru greenhorn.
But even this has succumbed to the rising cost of benifits (if applicable) as well as Big Bro's cut.
Some states even dictate this, as Vermont once did, but thier recommendations equate to the average burger flipper, not incentive IMO.
If i were to do it over again, as an apprentice i'd simply sub out to a number of contractors. An apprentice can also obtain contractors insurance if your wondering
(i've asked).
Add in your schooling & health ins. costs for overhead and you'll still make more in 2/3 of the yr than most in the whole of it because one can live well on paper if one either understands the mechanics or hires an accountant that does.
My company starts at $9 as a rule of thumb. Some start a bit higher (I started at $10 becasue I was managing a warehouse before I started) and some lower (usually guys who claim 10+ years in trade, but the owner doesn't believe). But here in Northern VA, somewhere around 9 is about average for green help, and as Gramps said, about $1 per year completed, with some extra money tossed in if you do well as a helper, or take initiative, on the job.
Thanks for the responses. Here in WA, we normally start off at $9.00. Yet, when you get time in (1000-2000 hours), you are looking at $11-13 per hour. Before I was laid off from one company, I was making 9, and we would get raises every 1/4. Great company, but things slowed down, so lay offs took place! Starting at $9 is fine, but once you get in your first 2000 hours, you should be looking at $12 per hour easy.
The locals that I'm familiar with start apprentices at 45% of journeyman scale, with a 5% increase every 950 hours. For example if the local scale is $20/hour, you'd start at $9/hour, and you should now be at $11/hour, or 55% of journeyman scale.
At 2000 hours you would be considered as a beginning 2nd year apprentice. Most IBEW locals now have a 5 year apprenticeship. To even be considered for the apprenticeship program, you must have first completed a state approved 2 year contruction electrician program. If you're non-union, you take what you can get.
[This message has been edited by Matt M (edited 02-09-2003).]