Pick a trade and state to see real hourly rates.
CareerOneStop reports these hourly wage levels for Louisiana Carpenters, SOC 47-2031.
Last updated October 22, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Pick a trade and state to see real hourly rates.
CareerOneStop reports these hourly wage levels for Louisiana Carpenters, SOC 47-2031.
Last updated October 22, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Hiring guide · Louisiana
Learn how to hire qualified carpenters, verify contractor requirements, and assess practical skills for Louisiana construction projects.
Carpenters in Louisiana work across residential construction, commercial buildings, remodeling, framing, finish work, millwork, and repair projects. Their duties can include framing walls and roofs, installing doors and windows, building stairs, forming concrete structures, installing cabinets, and completing interior finishes. Strong candidates should read construction drawings, measure accurately, select appropriate materials, and use hand and power tools safely. Louisiana also has specific contractor licensing thresholds and a dedicated S.2 Carpentry classification covering rough and finish carpentry and millwork. Employers therefore need to distinguish requirements that apply to the contracting business from those that apply to individual workers. This guide helps employers evaluate experience, verify applicable requirements, find trained candidates, and ask practical questions before hiring.
Candidate availability moves week to week. What does not move is the screening: the certifications below are what decide whether someone can be badged onto your site at all.
The levels are separated by what the state allows a person to do unsupervised, not by how good they are. Hiring the wrong level is the most common and most expensive mistake on a trade requisition.
Productive under supervision and cheap, but they cannot be left on a task the state licenses, and they need someone qualified with them.
Works unsupervised and can carry a helper. This is the level almost every requisition is actually describing.
Runs crews across sites, owns compliance outcomes, and where the trade allows, pulls permits and qualifies the work.
Budget $24 an hour for a qualified carpenter in Louisiana, from $16.40 at entry level to $33.32 at the top. Add a quarter to a third on top for payroll taxes, insurance and equipment, and price overtime at time and a half.
See the full carpenter salary guide →Louisiana employers should verify the applicable contractor license or registration, federal OSHA coverage, workers’ compensation, and project-specific requirements before work begins.
Louisiana's registered apprenticeship network includes dedicated carpenter programs and gives employers several routes to trained construction workers.
Certificates get a candidate past the first filter. These are the questions that separate the ones who can do the work from the ones who have the paperwork, and they change by level.
Certifications listed with no issuing body or date
A licence described as 'in progress'
No supervisor anyone can call
Three or four employers inside a year
Long gaps with no explanation offered
Cards that lapsed and were never renewed
A realistic schedule for a certified carpenter, from writing the requisition to a badged start. The screening steps are where time is actually lost.
Louisiana's published statewide carpenter wage data does not provide separate statewide median rates by construction sector, so the verified statewide median is used consistently rather than creating unsupported sector figures.
Residential carpenters may handle framing, exterior work, remodeling, doors, windows, and interior installations.
Commercial carpenters often work from detailed drawings while coordinating with multiple crews and project schedules.
Renovation work requires careful measurements and adjustments when existing buildings do not match current plans.
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