VSTrade comparison
Trade vs Trade.
Pick two trades. We compare pay, body toll, outlook, and union situation — without the recruiter spin. Neither is perfect. Both have real tradeoffs.
Trade A
Pulls wire, bends conduit, makes everything that uses electricity work. The flagship trade.
SWAP
Trade B
Installs and repairs water, drain, gas, and steam systems. The 'recession-proof' trade.
$$$§ THE MONEY
A WINS✓$38–$62/hr
journeyman ceiling ($/hr)
$35–$58/hr
$62,350
median annual
✓$62,970
$104,180
top 10% annual
✓$104,920
✓$18/hr–$26/hr
day-1 hourly range
$17/hr–$25/hr
Electrician pays $4/hr more at top of scale. Over a 30-year career at 2,000 hrs/year, that compounds into something real — roughly $240,000 in gross wages before benefits.
CLOCK§ TIME TO JOURNEYMAN
DRAW4 yr
minimum years (faster = better)
4 yr
4–5 yr
full range
4–5 yr
8,000 hrs
OJT hours
8,000 hrs
900 hrs
classroom hours
900 hrs
Same sentence, same time. Neither is a shortcut.
BODY§ WHAT IT DOES TO YOU
DRAWhigh
physical demand (lower = better)
high
✓$400–$1200
first-year tool cost (lower = better)
$500–$1500
ELECTRICIAN
Knees from concrete. Shoulder from overhead pulls. Back from wire spools. Year 20 will send you a reminder.
PLUMBER
Crawl spaces, slab work, raw sewage. The back goes around year 8–10. Wrists follow. Knees are optional accessories by 45.
Same demand rating. Different ways to get hurt, same orthopedic surgeon at year 20. Nobody recruits you with that framing.
TREND§ THE OUTLOOK
A WINS✓+11%
10-yr BLS growth (higher = better)
+6%
✓80,200
annual job openings
42,600
4/5
recession resistance (1–5)
✓5/5
Electrician grows faster; Plumber holds up better in downturns. Which matters more depends on your timeline — early career, chase growth; mid-career, stability wins.
UNION§ THE UNION SITUATION
DRAWeither
available paths
either
ELECTRICIAN
- ← IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers)
PLUMBER
- ← United Association (UA) — Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters
Union or not is a values question as much as a pay question. Pension and healthcare vs. flexibility and more doors open. Neither is automatically right — and any recruiter who tells you otherwise is selling you something.
§ THE VERDICT — 2 TO 0
Electrician, on paper.
Electrician wins 2 to 0 on the metrics that can be measured. That doesn't mean Plumber is wrong for you — it means Electrician is better on paper. The real question is which program you can get into, which trade your body will still be doing at 45, and whether the local near you is worth joining.