Job Placement · Skilled Trades & Mfg · Electrician
Electricians numbered 757,220 in May 2025 at a median of $63,190, and BLS projects 9 percent growth to 896,900 jobs by 2035 on data center and grid-upgrade demand. Texas licenses a journeyman at 8,000 supervised hours and a master at 12,000 plus two years, and California runs its own certification under Labor Code 108. BEG recruits electricians on Tier II milestone billing, $9,381 to $11,257, license and hours checked before we source.
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TL;DR
Electricians are a 757,220 person occupation at a $63,190 median, growing 9 percent through 2035 on about 72,700 openings a year as data centers and grid upgrades add demand. Licensing is state by state and hour-based: Texas requires 8,000 supervised hours for a journeyman and 12,000 more for a master, while California runs a separate certification under Labor Code 108 at 8,000 hours plus its own exam, so a card from one state does not transfer to the other. BEG recruits electricians on Tier II milestone billing, $9,381 to $11,257, with the license and hours verified before anyone is approached.
The License Is State-Specific
Because journeyman and master status are earned in hours under a specific state's rules, and a card from one state does not automatically qualify a candidate to work unsupervised in another.
What The Search Verifies
Four checks, each state-specific, and each one a job posting alone cannot do.
| Check | What it requires | Where it stalls |
|---|---|---|
| Hours documented under a licensed supervisor | Texas requires 8,000 hours on Experience Verification Forms signed by each supervising master; the exam is available at 7,000 hours. | A candidate self-reports hours with no signed verification, and the application is rejected weeks after the offer. |
| The right state license, not an adjacent one | California requires its own certification under Labor Code 108 at 8,000 hours plus a separate exam, scheduled through CPS HR Consulting. | A fully licensed Texas journeyman is hired for a California site and cannot legally do the work until the state exam is passed. |
| Journeyman versus master authority | A Texas master electrician needs two years as a journeyman plus 12,000 hours, and journeyman industrial hours do not count toward that total. | A role that needs permit-pulling master authority is filled with a journeyman who legally cannot sign for the work. |
| A portable record beyond the state card | NCCER’s commercial electrician journey-level assessment pairs a written test with a performance verification, held in a checkable registry. | No portable credential exists, so every new employer re-verifies the same skills from zero. |
Plumbers, HVAC technicians, welders and carpenters at this same license tier are covered on the skilled tradesperson page, which also carries the cross-trade wage table this page does not repeat. HVAC-specific EPA certification detail lives on the HVAC technician page. See the skilled trades placement service page for the vertical overview.
Where Electrician Pay Actually Sits
Industry matters more than the state exam once a candidate is licensed. Government work pays electricians a median of $79,820, manufacturing pays $74,550, and electrical contractors, who employ 66 percent of the trade, pay $61,570, per the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Employment services, the staffing channel, pays the least at $57,760. A requisition benchmarked against the contractor median will lose candidates who already know government and manufacturing pay more.
Milestone Billing At The Electrician Median
At the $63,190 median, a 20 percent contingency fee runs $12,638 and a 25 percent fee runs $15,798. BEG's Tier II range of $9,381 to $11,257 is 74 to 89 percent of the 20 percent figure, a real saving but not a dramatic one, and it is fixed in writing before we approach anyone rather than settled after the offer is negotiated.
Covering A Licensed Seat
Three ways an electrician gets on site, and they answer different questions about who carries the license risk.
| Model | Who employs the electrician | How you pay | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical staffing or temp agency | The staffing agency | Hourly bill rate including markup, for the length of the job | A single project needs licensed hands for a fixed window and there is no headcount after it closes. |
| Direct hire through your own posting | You, from day one | No placement fee, but your team verifies hours and license by hand | You already have a pipeline of licensed applicants and staff able to check Experience Verification Forms correctly. |
| BEG permanent placement | You | Tier II milestone fee of $9,381 to $11,257, fixed before sourcing | You need the state license and hours confirmed before the interview, not discovered after the start date. |
The large electrical staffing firms can put a licensed body on a job site faster than a permanent search, which is a genuine advantage on a hard deadline. BEG is not a staffing agency and does not describe itself as one. We place a permanent electrician your company employs, at a fee fixed before sourcing, with a 45 day replacement guarantee and 50% off a repeat search for the same seat. For the crew authority above this seat, see foreman and team lead.
FAQ
On BEG’s active searches, 23 to 35 days on average from discovery call to placed hire, with an 86 percent fill rate. Most of that window is spent verifying the license and hours, which is the step a posting-and-waiting search usually skips.
BLS OEWS counted 757,220 electricians in May 2025 at a median of $63,190, with the middle 80 percent earning between $42,640 and $108,510 depending on state, industry and license level.
Yes. BLS projects 9 percent growth, from 821,000 jobs in 2025 to 896,900 in 2035, about 75,900 net new jobs and roughly 72,700 openings a year. BLS names data center construction and AI-driven electricity demand as drivers behind the grid upgrades creating the work.
Electrical contractors employ 66 percent of the trade, at a median of $61,570. Government pays the highest industry median at $79,820, manufacturing pays $74,550, and employment services, the staffing channel, pays the least at $57,760.
Most electricians train through a 4 or 5 year apprenticeship at about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training a year plus technical instruction. After completing it they are journey workers, and most states require a licensing exam based on the National Electrical Code.
At least 8,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed master electrician, documented on Experience Verification Forms the supervising master signs. The exam may be taken at 7,000 hours. The application fee is $30 and the license renews annually.
At least two years already holding a journeyman electrician license plus 12,000 documented hours under a Texas-licensed master. Hours earned as a journeyman industrial electrician do not count toward that total. The application fee is $45 with annual renewal, and a journeyman works under a master’s general supervision.
No. California requires its own state certification under Labor Code 108 for anyone doing electrical work for a C-10 licensed contractor, general certification at 8,000 hours plus a separate exam. Exams are scheduled through CPS HR Consulting for dates on or after June 1, 2026, filed online.
Yes, four narrower certifications: residential electrician at 4,800 hours, fire, life and safety technician at 4,000, voice data video technician at 4,000, and non-residential lighting technician at 2,000, each a smaller scope than the 8,000 hour general certification.
On average, yes. Construction and extraction occupations, which include electricians, paid union members a median of $1,561 a week in 2025 against $1,004 for nonunion, with 16.4 percent of the group unionized. BLS notes this comparison does not control for occupation mix, tenure or region.
A Tier II search at $9,381 to $11,257. At the $63,190 median, that range is 74 to 89 percent of a 20 percent contingency fee, a real but modest saving, not the roughly-50-percent figure that applies at other tiers. The number is fixed in writing before sourcing starts either way.
No. An electrical staffing agency employs the electrician and bills you an hourly rate for the length of the job. BEG places a permanent electrician your company employs directly, on a fixed milestone fee with a 45 day replacement guarantee and 50% off a repeat search for the same seat.
Filling out the trades roster? See skilled tradesperson, HVAC technician and foreman and team lead, or all skilled trades placement.
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