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Skilled trades · Building & Making

Ironworker: what the job actually is

Erecting the steel frames and placing the reinforcing steel that hold up bridges, towers and big buildings.

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Ironworker: quick facts

Ironworker salary in Ontario: the median pay is $44.34 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is moderate. The job usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years.

Median pay in Ontario
$44.34 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$32.27 to $50.25 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Moderate
People working in it in Ontario
3,200
Usually needs
Usually a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 72105. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Putting up the steel skeleton of a building or a bridge, placing the reinforcing steel inside concrete, and installing the ornamental metalwork that you see on the finished building.
  • Skilled Trades Ontario lists two relevant trades. Ironworker, Structural and Ornamental (420A) is described as fabricating and installing structural and ornamental steel and iron works, and precast concrete and laminated timber members, including welding, rigging and erecting. Ironworker, Generalist covers both structural and ornamental work and reinforcing steel.
  • It is outdoor, high work in all weather. You are a team: the person on the beam, the person on the crane and the person on the radio are all doing one job together.
  • Bolting, welding and rigging are the main skills, plus reading drawings and getting each piece to land exactly where it should.
  • Job Bank's Ontario outlook names construction, mainly foundation, structure and building exterior contractors, and manufacturers of architectural and structural metals as the main employers, and points to infrastructure investment and multi-unit housing in large cities.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 6:00 — On site in a hard hat, harness and safety boots. The sun is not up and the steel is cold enough to hurt your hands.
  2. 6:20 — Toolbox meeting: today's lifts, the fall-protection plan, who is on the crane, who is on the ground.
  3. 6:45 — Climb to the working level. Check your lanyard, check your tie-off point, then check them again.
  4. 7:15 — Signal a column section into place. The crane operator is watching your hands, and a piece weighing several tonnes is swinging toward you.
  5. 8:30 — Connect it with bolts, then bring the next beam in, and the one after that.
  6. 10:00 — Break on the deck, in a gap between lifts. The wind is up.
  7. 10:15 — Check plumb and level with the layout crew, and adjust the connections before they are tightened.
  8. 12:00 — Lunch in a trailer. The whole crew eats at the same time because the whole crew works at the same time.
  9. 12:30 — Afternoon lifts. Same sequence, same checks, a little more tired. That is when care matters most.
  10. 15:30 — Tools down, material staged for tomorrow's lifts, and a head-count before anyone leaves the site.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You want to work outdoors, high up, building something huge that will still be standing when you are old.
  • You are comfortable with heights and you respect them. Fear is useful here; carelessness is not.
  • You like being part of a crew whose members trust each other with their lives.
  • You like physical work and you can keep your focus in weather and noise.
  • You want to be paid while you train, and you are willing to travel to where the big jobs are.
You may hate this if
  • Heights frighten you. Much of the job is done on steel at height, tied off, and the fear does not always go away.
  • Weather bothers you. Wind, cold, rain and heat all happen on the steel, and the job often does not stop for them.
  • You dislike physically demanding work. Bolting, carrying and handling heavy steel is hard on shoulders, knees and backs over a career.
  • You want to be at home every night. Big projects can be far away and ironworkers often travel for them.
  • You want steady work in one place. Projects end, and work comes in waves that follow construction.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Choose a trade

    Skilled Trades Ontario lists Ironworker, Structural and Ornamental as trade code 420A and non-compulsory, and Ironworker, Generalist as non-compulsory too. Both are Red Seal trades. The Generalist page we read does not publish a code or hours, so we do not state them here.

  2. Get an employer to register you

    As in all apprenticeships, the real gate is an employer or a union training programme willing to sign you on and sign off your hours. We did not verify which unions or training centres accept applications; ask contractors and local employers what they look for.

  3. Work the hours

    For Structural and Ornamental (420A), Skilled Trades Ontario lists 6,000 hours, described as approximately 3.5 years: 5,280 hours on the job and 720 hours in school. You then write the certifying exam for a Certificate of Qualification.

  4. Add the tickets the site demands

    We did not verify the specific safety and fall-protection courses that sites require. Ask any employer what you need before you show up on day one.

  5. Use school routes to start

    Ontario says OYAP lets students in Grade 11 or 12 earn co-op credits through a placement in a skilled trade. Ask your co-op teacher or board recruiter whether any ironwork employers take students near you.

Where this comes from: Skilled Trades Ontario — Ironworker, Structural and Ornamental (420A) · Skilled Trades Ontario — Ironworker, Generalist · Ontario — Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program

The money

Ironworker salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$32.27
Low (hourly)
$44.34
Median (hourly)
$50.25
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 72105. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Ironworker wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Moderate3 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
  • Not many positions will become available due to retirements.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Large infrastructure investments
  • New housing developments including the construction of multi-unit buildings in some of Ontario's largest urban centres
  • Demand for building materials is expected to support work for architectural and structural metals manufacturers, and steel producers

Who hires for it

  • Construction, mainly as foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors
  • Manufacturers of architectural and structural metals and primary metals
3,200
people work in this job in Ontario
less than 5%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Ironworkers job prospects in Ontario (NOC 72105). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take technology, shop, welding and maths courses. Geometry and measurement run through every task.
  • Ask about OYAP and co-op, and about an SHSM in construction.
  • Take any fall-protection or work-at-heights course your school or board offers where it is offered to students.
  • Look at a bridge or a steel-framed building under construction from the ground. Work out where the columns, beams and bolted connections are, and how the pieces connect.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Build and load-test a paper or straw truss

About 75 minutes
  1. Gather drinking straws or rolled paper tubes, tape and two stacks of books to act as supports. Build a span between the stacks with no triangles in it, then build a second one with triangles.
  2. Hang a small weight, such as a bag with some coins in it, from the middle of each span. See which bends, which holds and why.
  3. Look at a real bridge or steel building online and count the triangles in the frame. Work out what each piece is doing: pulling or pushing.
  4. Phone or email one steel erector or fabricator and ask how a first-year apprentice gets started.

What it tells you. If you wanted to keep improving the structure and testing it, the logic of steel framing may suit you. If you enjoyed building but felt bored by the checking, or if watching steel work at height made your stomach drop, believe that now rather than 1,000 hours in.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What is the scariest thing you have seen on a site, and what changed afterward?”
  2. “How do you stay focused at height when it is cold and windy?”
  3. “How much do you travel for work, and how does it affect your life?”
  4. “What is the difference between structural and reinforcing work in practice?”
  5. “What did you not expect about the first year?”
  6. “How did you get your first apprenticeship?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Sometimes, but not early. Structural steel erection is done by crews for large contractors with heavy insurance and lifting equipment. Smaller contractors do ornamental work such as railings, stairs and gates, and experienced ironworkers can start that kind of shop, but you need years of experience and the money for equipment and insurance.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does an ironworker make in Ontario?

The median pay for an ironworker in Ontario is $44.34 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $32.27 to $50.25 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for an ironworker in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as moderate for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become an ironworker in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Choose a trade; Get an employer to register you; Work the hours.

Where does an ironworker work in Ontario?

Construction, mainly as foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors. Manufacturers of architectural and structural metals and primary metals. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as an ironworker in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 3,200 people working in this job in Ontario. Less than 5% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Where people come from

Which programs lead here?

In the 2021 Census, this job is one of the 12 most common for graduates of these programs. Each page shows what else they do, and which of those jobs have openings.

Skilled trades hub: kids, teens and adults The highest-paying skilled trades OYAP: start in high school SHSM: the Specialist High Skills Major Women in the skilled trades What can you do with your degree?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

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Read next

Apprenticeships in Ontario OYAP in Ontario Women in the trades All careers guides

Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.