What is the average hourly pay for cnc operators in your state

[Barry Young]

The reason the pool of skilled labor has dried up in my opinion is because the shop owners are too greedy to train anybody. They want skilled people, but they want someone else to pay for their training. If you want trained people, start a National Tooling and Machining Association chapter in your area with some of your competitors and set up a state sanctioned apprenticeship program. Why should someone else have to pay to train your people? Greed, that is why.

I was lucky enough to get into one of the last traditional apprenticeship prorgams in my area. That is not an option for new people trying to learn machining today in this area. Many people point to the programs offered by technical colleges in machine technology. It isn't the same as working one on one with a Journeyman machinist looking over your shoulder telling you what you need to do coupled with classes at night.. They are training people to be operators, not machinists. The people in the machine technology programs will graduate then be put on a CNC mill or lathe to languish. They will not have the opportunity to work in all disciplines completing a required curriculum of widely varied experience to go with the theory they learn. Programming the colleges CNC to carve your name isn't the same as running a tool and cutter grinder with a very mean old man griping at you.

I have no sympathy for production managers and shop owners who complain about the lack of skilled labor but who are willing to do nothing to remedy the problem because it will cost them a few bucks. Well guess what, it is going to cost them a lot more if they don't. It will cost them their whole enterprise. Oh, and by the way, the competition across the pond is training their people.

Barry Young

[tobyaxis]

I have no sympathy for production managers and shop owners who complain about the lack of skilled labor but who are willing to do nothing to remedy the problem because it will cost them a few bucks. Well guess what, it is going to cost them a lot more if they don't. It will cost them their whole enterprise. Oh, and by the way, the competition across the pond is training their people.
Barry Young

I agree Barry. This is very true but employers who continue on this path complain more than the workers do. Go Figure

[Geof]

I agree Barry. This is very true but employers who continue on this path complain more than the workers do. Go Figure

Regarding the lack of sympathy for employers there is another side to the story. Well I think there is another side but I am an employer so maybe I am biased; but I was also many, many years ago an apprentice.

When I was an apprentice my pay in the first year was 1/4 of journeyman rate. Over the course of the apprenticeship it increased every six months and so that in the final year the prescribed rate was 68% of journeyman rate.

I don't know what the apprenticeship requirements are in other areas but where I am located unions got involved and if I took on an apprentice I would have to pay 67% of union rate in the first year. They are not worth that much.

I don't mind training someone; indeed I have trained several, but there is no way you will get me involved in some formal apprenticeship program.

[tobyaxis]

Regarding the lack of sympathy for employers there is another side to the story. Well I think there is another side but I am an employer so maybe I am biased; but I was also many, many years ago an apprentice.

I don't mind training someone; indeed I have trained several, but there is no way you will get me involved in some formal apprenticeship program.

You may not be involved in a Formal Apprenticeship Program, but you make an effort to Train those that want to learn. This is still a contribution toward a Trade that is suffering due to Unskilled Labor.

As for UNIONS everything has Pros and Cons, but I'm not going to go there.

[Tolik]

HI all,
5.2$ per hour for experiensed operator, up to 7.4$ per hour for the man that setting up all machines at our factory...

[millbastard]

Im down in South Florida as a setup/operator/supervisor in charge of production of 11 mills and im making $12....i feel as if im over worked and under payed but im sure everyone has felt that way at one point in there career.

p.s. im sorry i always seem to go on wild tangets when it comes to posting...

button pusher (trainees) off the street start @$10
i make $12 to keep track of the programs, qc, 'hot lists' for the day and i have to fix the 2nd shift setup/super's who makes $17 mistakes(he is a one man crew...literally, he is the only person on our second shift)
the highest payed person 'operator' on our shop floor makes pennies shy of $20, and i still have to show him what G1G41D01X0.Y0.; means

[tobyaxis]

Im down in South Florida as a setup/operator/supervisor in charge of production of 11 mills and im making $12....i feel as if im over worked and under payed but im sure everyone has felt that way at one point in there career.

p.s. im sorry i always seem to go on wild tangets when it comes to posting...

button pusher (trainees) off the street start @$10
i make $12 to keep track of the programs, qc, 'hot lists' for the day and i have to fix the 2nd shift setup/super's who makes $17 mistakes(he is a one man crew...literally, he is the only person on our second shift)
the highest payed person 'operator' on our shop floor makes pennies shy of $20, and i still have to show him what G1G41D01X0.Y0.; means

You better ask for a raise because I was making $15 in Central Florida (2001) setting up and Programming 3 Lathes. The Big Lathe was a Multi-Tasking Nakamura-Tome with Twin Turrets, Spindles, Live Tooling and a Bar Feeder. Fanuc 10TW.

If you can do what your saying they should be paying you a lot more than that.

[dertsap]

i dont make it my business what the other guys are making but from what ive gathered many of our press go operators are making 18 + , many of them had completed their apprenticships while others are still on them

as far as apprentice training goes ,i concider the program a joke , i started it did 2 yrs and dropped it , i couldn t afford to take 2 months off work to do the schooling , my first five yrs of training was mostly self taught because my boss was such a dink he'd just say "go find it in a book" when i asked him why the program he programmed didn t work ,
the problem i see with the apprentice program is that there are many guys with their ticket who know nothing more than to press go, and in the truth of the matter it is due to the lack of responsibilty on the companies part to take on the apprentice and to assure them the training they need in order to truely call themselves ticketed machinists , at the same time there are many apprentices who had been given great oportunities and blew it , it works both ways
i don t know how things are elsewhere but most companies ive seen are willing to train competent people , especially in this job market ,how can you not ? i can quit my job tommorrow and easily roll my toolbox into one of at least five other companies by mid afternoon

in the end i firmly beleave "pay a man what he's truly worth" , many are exceptional ,many are average and many aren t worth the ground to spit on

[tobyaxis]

Dertsap,

I agree with a lot of what you say but the sad truth is that I know 3 Ticketed Machinists that are Truly Talented and they don't get anything close to what their worth. One actually owned a shop at one time, but due to a terrible hit and run accident and an extensive hospital stay he lost everything. Now he works at a shop and has to deal with the same B/S that everyone else does.

Companies don't want to Train someone to be a Qualified Machinist, they want Operators to Load/Unload Parts and do Inspection.

The other two Ticketed Machinists are too Grumpy to mention LOL

BTW: Most of the people I meet in Shops call themselves First Class Machinists, but they are nothing more than Overpaid Glorified Machine Operators, nothing more.

Here is a Test.

1) Go to a Mill guy and ask him to make an Arbor for an Indexing Head.

2) Go to a Lathe guy and ask him to make a Fixture for holding an irregular shaped part that need to be Turned.

3) Ask both to Sharpen a Drill buy hand.

4) Ask both to make a Gear on a Bridgeport.

5) Ask both to the other's Job for one day.

Try these and see what results you get. Chances are you will get a puzzled look or a "That's Not My Job" answer.

The answer you should get is NONE, they just go and do what was asked.

That is a Machinist!!!!!!

BTW: Most of these guys can't even Read a Print or understand the basic symbols of GD&T and apply them to a part print. This one cracks me up everyday at work. "What do you mean you don't know what a Datum Control Feature is?" "Your a Machinist aren't you?" "You have been doing this for 23 years and you don't know what this means?????"

[dertsap]

i disagree with the idea most companies don t want to train ,
we recently took on a young guy who is quite bright but lacks the skills , he will start as an operator ,and little by little i will challenge him and i will help him but it is all up to him if he cannot meet the challenge he will be pushing buttons as long as he is with us
we took on one of our labourers and put him on the apprenticeship because we saw something in him ,he was doing great but due to iresponsibility in his personal life he has blown a good opportunity ,and when he comes back from his "stress leave " i will refuse to allow him on the machines

the 2 things that get anyone anywhere is attitude and aptitude , and each is worthless without the other

[tobyaxis]

Dertsap,

I know your intentions are good, but I have one question for you and you alone.

You have seen a little of my work and all too many of my posts here on CNC Zone.

Do you see any Talent in me??

If so, why is it that no one else saw it?

I have a few theories of my own but I' like to hear your opinion before posting personal experience in many shops.

LOL, This isn't a trick question either. Just let it fly good or bad.

[dertsap]

what can i say without truely seeing all your talents placed in front of me ?

ive seen what you can design with cad and from reading your posts i see that you have a fairly good knowledge of tooling ,but personally the number one thing i find that i can get a total grasp of what a person is truely about is on face value , you come across on the zone as a talented eager nice guy , at least thats the way i see it , what more can a company want , but without the face value to meet you in person it would be difficult for me to truely judge you or your talents ,its pretty easy to blow wind up peoples butts in writing , and don t get me wrong i am not in anyway suggesting you are but im sure you must agree with me on that , ever been on a blind date ?im sure i can come across as more of a jerk than i really am , i'm just honest with what i say or theres a bit of fun sarcasm if someones willing to catch it ,
it is impossible for me to answer why companies won t recognize your talents , obviously the worker to job ratio is higher on the machinist side where you are or you would be in as great of a demand as you would be here

i grew up quite furtunate , the area i'm from had wages that in the early 80's could challenge todays wages , everyone lived well with all the toys ,unfortunately when i walked into the workforce the mines dove the forestry dove and it was near impossible to get a job washing dishes ,which i did for quite some time , i took one good hard look at everything that i knew and loved and turned my back and literally hit the highway with my thumb out no money and nowhere to go all i knew was there was something that i was missing and i was determined to find it , i did that a few times over a number of years ,i would hope i am done with that but who knows what the future will bring , i will do it again if need be

it seems to me is the work isn t there for you ,so my question to you is "what are you going to do about it"