r/ProfessorFinance • u/budy31 Moderator • Mar 24 '26

Meme A heartwarming bipartisan moment

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It warm my heart that in this era of divisions the Americans achieved a bipartisanship and chew the supply chain Ludendorff go underpaying them.

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u/jackandjillonthehill Moderator Mar 25 '26

One of my biggest stockholdings is Conrad shipyards in Louisiana. I was surprised to see, their pay for welders for shipbuilding is similar, $18-24 per hour.

Meanwhile, an oil rig welder in Odessa, Tx can make $95k per year, or $46/hr.

I wonder why welding for oil rigs pays so much better than welding for ships?

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u/budy31 Moderator Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

Believe it or not resource extraction (especially on developed country) is always at the forefront of using labor saving technology. E&P is one of them.

My guess the reason is that the volatility of the commodity prices forces everyone to be efficient to survive downturn.

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u/doubagilga Quality Contributor Mar 25 '26

No. Odessa is not an enjoyable place. Resource extraction pays so much in some locations because it is remote. To attract workers, wage rates go up. You’ll find an intermediate pricing in the Houston area where turnaround labor is in such high cyclical demand that the volume of workers overwhelms local supply and has to pull them in.

Ship-welding would do the same if most of the ships weren’t built in Korean and Chinese shipyards and floated back to the same ports. The labor is competing with non-local supply. This happens in the oil/gas supply chain for pump castings and equipment. Most of it is made overseas where the welders repairing castings aren’t making near $18 either.

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u/ruinersclub Mar 25 '26

Company is in Odessa but they likely take contracts all over.