Metal Fabricator
A metal fabricator cuts, shapes, assembles, and joins metal components to manufacture or repair structural items, machines, or equipment in workshops or on-site. The role involves interpreting technical drawings, selecting appropriate metals and joining methods, and ensuring finished products meet dimensional tolerances and safety standards.
What this job is
A metal fabricator cuts, shapes, assembles, and joins metal components to manufacture or repair structural items, machines, or equipment in workshops or on-site. The role involves interpreting technical drawings, selecting appropriate metals and joining methods, and ensuring finished products meet dimensional tolerances and safety standards. Work typically spans automotive, construction, mining, and manufacturing industries across Australian workplaces.
Are employers advertising this role?
Falling, down 26.0% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Interpret engineering drawings and specifications to determine cutting, bending, and assembly requirements. Measure and mark metal stock using rulers, callipers, and measuring tools to set out components. Operate oxy-acetylene cutting equipment and plasma cutters to cut metal sheets and sections to size. Bend and shape metal using press brakes, guillotines, and hand tools such as mallets and anvils. Weld metal components using MIG, TIG, and stick welding processes to join fabricated parts. Prepare metal surfaces by grinding, filing, and deburring to remove sharp edges and achieve dimensional accuracy. Assemble metal components using bolts, rivets, or adhesives and check alignment with jigs and fixtures. Perform non-destructive testing such as visual inspection and magnetic particle inspection to verify weld quality.
Who does this now
About 44,900 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3)
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation had trouble finding suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Jobs and Skills Australia defines an occupation-ready qualification as:
Completing this qualification will provide the skills and knowledge to undertake this occupation. Further training and experience may be required to meet specific industry requirements including licensing and registration.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
Your body takes a real beating. You're working with loud machinery, heat, sparks, and heavy materials day after day. Hearing damage, repetitive strain injuries, and burns are genuine risks. The pay ceiling is modest compared to other trades, and automation is slowly replacing basic cutting and welding tasks. You'll need to keep updating skills to stay relevant.
Where the jobs are
Work is heavily concentrated in industrial areas and regional centres tied to mining, automotive, and construction. Remote work isn't an option for this role.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 3223, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Attention to Detailcore
- Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
- Incident Reportingcore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
- Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workload Self-Managementcore
- Active Listening
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Inventory Tracking
- Process Improvement Identification
- Supplier Communication
- Written Communication
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Metal Fabricator workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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