Pick a trade and state to see real hourly rates.
Source: Current BLS California employee wages for Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers, SOC 47-2171; excludes premium pay and benefits.
Last updated October 21, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Career guide · California
Learn reinforcing-steel placement through Local 416, concrete coursework and supervised work with Cal/OSHA protection.
Rebar workers build the reinforcement inside concrete foundations, walls and decks. You read placement drawings, sort bars and tie steel before concrete crews arrive. This guide connects California employee wages with training routes and the rules for starting work. It also separates a reinforcing contractor's C-50 licence from the instruction an employee receives on site.
A good share of those postings are open to people at entry level with no licence yet. Live counts move week to week — the training routes below do not.
The trade is not one job, it is three, and they are separated by what you are legally allowed to do rather than by how good you are. Knowing which level you are aiming at tells you which hours, which exam and which certificates actually matter.
Paid from day one, working under a licensed hand while you bank the hours that lead to your own card.
Qualified to work on your own. This is the level nearly every job ad is really asking for, and the biggest pay step you will ever get.
You run work rather than just do it: crews across sites, permits where the trade allows, and the option of qualifying a business of your own.
Rebar Workers in California start around $21.27 an hour and reach $51.94 at the top of the trade. Once you are working unsupervised the middle of the market sits near $30.34.
See the full rebar worker salary guide →Employees work under their employer's arrangements. Contractors need licensing at $1,000 total labor and materials, or with permits or hired workers. California employers must provide reinforcement training, hazard controls and workers' compensation for employees.
Local 416 combines reinforcing instruction with field work. College concrete labs teach reinforcement placement within slabs and foundations. Specialist safety courses develop fall-hazard knowledge for work around elevated concrete structures.
Certificates get you past the first filter. These are the things foremen and recruiters decide on, and they change depending on which level you are applying at.
No signed record of your supervised hours
Long gaps with no explanation at all
Leaving three or four shops inside a year
No OSHA card when the site requires one
Certifications that lapsed and were never renewed
Listing a licence as 'in progress' as though it is held
No supervisor anyone can call
The realistic route, start to finish. Most of it is paid — you are earning from the point you are taken on, not from the point you are licensed.
Sorted by payback speed.
| Certification | Rate bump | Extra / year | Cost | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Workers Local 433 Apprenticeship (journeyperson) | +$2.67 | $5,554 | $0 | 0 weeks |
| Ironworkers Local 416 Reinforcing Apprenticeship (journeyperson) | +$2.67 | $5,554 | $0 | 0 weeks |
| OSHA 30-Hour Construction | +$1.43 | $2,974 | $159 | 3 weeks |
| OSHA 10-Hour Construction | +$0.48 | $998 | $59 | 4 weeks |
| Fall Protection Competent Person | +$0.38 | $790 | $149 | 10 weeks |
| NCCCO Signalperson | +$0.38 | $790 | $200 | 14 weeks |
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