First-Year Apprentice Pay 2026:
$19.00 to $22.95 an Hour
Updated 27 September 2026 | Rates read off Local 130 appendix C and the NYC Comptroller apprentice schedule
First-year apprentice pay is quoted loosely everywhere, usually as a percentage of journeyman scale. Two large UA Locals publish their full apprentice ladder, so we can stop estimating: in Chicago the first period is $21.10 an hour and in New York it is $19.00. Both are well below the 40 to 50 percent of journeyman scale the figure is usually reported at.
Chicago Local 130, 1st period
$21.10
NYC Local 1, 1st period
$19.00
Year one at 2,080 hrs
$41,600 to $45,800
% of journeyman wage
26-36%
Section 01
Year One on the Published Ladders
Both of these Locals split year one into two six-month steps, so an apprentice works half the year at each rate. The annual column is the average of the two steps at 2,080 hours, and nothing else: no overtime, no shift premium, no assumption about hours actually offered.
| Local | Months 1-6 | Months 7-12 | Year one at 2,080 hrs | Journeyman wage | % of journeyman |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UA Local 130 (Chicago, IL) | $21.10 | $22.95 | $45,800 | $62.00 | 36% |
| UA Local 1 (New York City, NY) | $19.00 | $21.00 | $41,600 | $78.05 | 26% |
- UA Local 130 (Chicago, IL): Plumbers Local 130 UA, PCA wage rate sheet, appendix C, 1 Jun 2026 to 31 May 2027.
- UA Local 1 (New York City, NY): NYC Comptroller, Construction apprentice prevailing wage schedule, 1 Jul 2026 to 30 Jun 2027.
- Wage only. Employer contributions to the welfare, pension and training funds are paid on top and are set out in the next section; they do not reach the apprentice as pay.
- Only Locals that publish a full apprentice ladder are listed. Most do not, and a state without a prevailing-wage law often has no published apprentice rate at all. Absence from this table says nothing about pay in that state.
Section 02
What the Ladder Actually Looks Like
The UA Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC) runs the apprenticeship inside each Local, but there is no national UA wage ladder. Each Local negotiates its own, and they differ enough that a percentage quoted from one Local is worthless applied to another. The two published here run five years and step twice in year one, then annually.
The rule of thumb that apprentices start at 40 to 50 percent of journeyman scale does not survive contact with either sheet. Local 130 Chicago opens at $21.10 against a journeyman wage of $62.00, which is 34 percent. Local 1 NYC opens at $19.00 against $78.05, which is 24 percent. Both ladders are back-loaded: the Chicago apprentice is still only at 50 percent in year three, then jumps to 66 percent in year four.
The claim that apprentices receive the full journeyman benefits package from day one is also wrong, and it is worth being precise about because it is repeated constantly. Apprentices are covered from day one, and they pay nothing toward that cover. But the contributions step up with the ladder rather than starting at journeyman level. On Local 130 appendix C a first-period apprentice attracts a welfare contribution of $13.15 an hour against a journeyman's $18.15, and no pension and no pension defined-contribution at all. Pension starts in year two at $7.00, and only reaches the journeyman's $12.00 in year four. NYC is starker still: the first-period supplemental benefit rate is $5.43 an hour against a journeyman's $46.40.
Classroom instruction is funded by the training contribution, which on the Local 130 sheet is the $2.17 an hour JAC line, paid at the same rate for apprentices as for journeymen. Local 130 also notes that no employer contributions are required for an apprentice on an assigned school day, though payroll deductions still are. The apprentice pays no tuition and finishes with no course debt; that part of the earn-while-you-learn case holds up on the document.
Section 03
What a First-Year Apprentice Actually Does
The misconception is that an apprentice immediately starts installing pipe. The reality is that year-one apprentice work is mostly assisting and learning, with progressively more hands-on installation as the year develops.
Morning of a typical first-year apprentice day on a commercial new-construction job: the journeyman tells the apprentice what materials and tools will be needed for the day's tasks. The apprentice goes to the gang box and the material lay-down area, pulls the right fittings, valves, pipe lengths, hangers, and tools, and stages them at the work area. While the journeyman starts work, the apprentice watches, hands tools, and learns the sequence. Mid-morning the apprentice may start cutting and beveling pipe under the journeyman's eye, then progress to threading or soldering smaller joints. By afternoon the apprentice may be doing routine work (running 1/2 inch supply lines to fixtures) while the journeyman handles harder work nearby.
Classroom evenings during year one cover: plumbing code basics (the local plumbing code, often Uniform Plumbing Code or International Plumbing Code), basic safety (OSHA-10, fall protection, confined space), plumbing math (slope calculations, pipe sizing, pressure drop, water hammer), trade history, and tool fundamentals (the names, uses, and safety of every tool the apprentice will use). The classroom load is typically 4 to 6 hours per week, scheduled around the OJT week.
The apprentice cannot legally pull permits, sign off on work, or work independently. The work is always under the supervision of a journeyman or master in the apprentice's first year. By year three the apprentice is typically handling simple jobs solo with periodic check-ins; by year five the apprentice is essentially functioning as a journeyman pending the exam.
Section 04
Five Years on One Published Ladder
Local 130 publishes all six apprentice steps, so the whole apprenticeship can be laid out without estimating anything. Every wage below is off appendix C. The annual columns are that hourly rate times 2,080 and rounded to the nearest hundred. Year one blends the two six-month steps.
| Step | Hourly wage | Wage at 2,080 hrs | Employer contributions | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $21.10 then $22.95 | $45,800 | $31,900 | Two six-month steps, so the annual figure is the average |
| Year 2 | $27.30 | $56,800 | $57,300 | Pension contributions start |
| Year 3 | $31.00 | $64,500 | $57,300 | |
| Year 4 | $40.90 | $85,100 | $78,700 | Welfare and pension reach journeyman level |
| Year 5 | $46.50 | $96,700 | $78,700 | |
| Five-year total | $348,900 | $303,900 |
Source: Plumbers Local 130 UA, PCA wage rate sheet, appendix C, 1 Jun 2026 to 31 May 2027. Employer contributions are the welfare, pension, pension defined-contribution, JAC and industry-fund lines added together. They are paid into those funds, not to the apprentice, and the dues, target, building and PAC lines on the same sheet are deductions from the member and are excluded.
Two things stand out against the way apprentice pay is usually pitched. The first is that year one is modest: $45,800 of wages in one of the best-paid union markets in the country. The second is that the back half carries the programme. The step from year three to year four is worth almost $20,600 of annual wage on its own, and it is also where welfare and pension contributions reach journeyman level.
Against a four-year degree the five-year cash position is clearly better: $348,900 earned rather than tuition paid, and no course debt, because the training contribution carries the classroom. What that comparison cannot tell you is the lifetime figure, which depends on the degree, the career and the market, and it assumes you get one of a small number of Local 130 apprentice places to begin with. Places are competitive and intake is not annual in every Local.