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Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons

Typical education: High school diplomaLower pressure

What they do

Help painters, paperhangers, plasterers, or stucco masons by performing duties requiring less skill. Duties include using, supplying, or holding materials or tools, and cleaning work area and equipment.

Kinds of work

  • Realistic: Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals, often outdoors.
  • Conventional: Organizing information, following clear procedures and working with data and details.

Lower pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $40,470 Median per year · $19.46/hr Most earn $31,200–$52,000

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Smooth surfaces of articles to be painted, using sanding and buffing tools and equipment.
  • Place articles to be stripped into stripping tanks.
  • Clean work areas and equipment.
  • Fill cracks or breaks in surfaces of plaster articles or areas with putty or epoxy compounds.
  • Mix plaster, and carry plaster to plasterers.
  • Perform support duties to assist painters, paperhangers, plasterers, or masons.

Job outlook

United States
2% more jobs by 2035, slower than average · about 700 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Painting and wall covering contractors59.5%
  • Drywall and insulation contractors11.9%
  • Temporary help services3.4%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 6 months to 1 year

Some people start through an apprenticeship: paid training on the job, often with classes. Search apprenticeships on Apprenticeship.gov (opens in a new tab) ↗

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: High school diplomaExperience before this job: 6 months to 1 year

This is an entry-level job. You can start with a high school diploma and a willingness to work hard on job sites, and most people build up to it in about 6 months to 1 year of general labor or related work.

  1. High school diploma

    4 years

    Finish high school, where you can build math, reading, and shop skills that help with measuring, following instructions, and working safely on a site.

  2. Construction Laborer

    6 months to 1 year

    Work on building sites doing general tasks like hauling materials, cleaning up, and running errands. This teaches you job-site routines and how crews communicate, which helps when you start helping painters.

  3. Painter Helper

    6 months to 2 years

    Support painters by holding ladders, mixing or carrying supplies, moving tools, and keeping the work area clean. Watching skilled painters closely is how many people learn the trade and decide whether to move on to painting itself.

Where it can lead

  1. Painter, Construction and Maintenance

    1-2 years of experience first

    You do the painting yourself, including surface prep, applying coats, and matching finishes, instead of only assisting. Moving up usually means showing you can work with less supervision and do quality work on your own.

  2. Plasterer

    A few months to 1 year of helper experience of experience first

    You learn to apply plaster, stucco, and other wall and ceiling finishes, which takes more skill than painting and often leads to higher-level finish work. Many helpers pick this path after learning the materials on a crew.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take shop, woodworking, or drafting classesHands-on classes teach you to use tools, read plans, and work safely, which is useful on any construction site.
  • Take math classes, especially geometryMeasuring walls, estimating how much paint you need, and figuring areas all rely on the math you learn in geometry.
  • Get a summer or after-school job doing yard work or cleanupPhysical work where you follow instructions and keep a space tidy shows employers you can handle the daily demands of a helper job.
  • Volunteer on a community house-painting or repair projectMany towns run or join volunteer projects where you can try painting and prep work and learn basic technique.
  • Join a skills or trades club, such as an FFA or a school technology club if your school has oneThese groups give you hands-on practice, teamwork experience, and sometimes connections to local tradespeople.

In college

  • Take a job as a construction laborer or in property maintenancePart-time or summer work on a job site or in building maintenance gives you real experience with crews, materials, and job-site safety.
  • Take courses in construction technology, building materials, or safetyClasses that cover materials and job-site safety help you understand what painters and plasterers need from their helpers.
  • Get a basic job-site safety certification, such as OSHA 10-Hour ConstructionMany employers ask for or value this certification, and it shows you already understand safe work habits.
  • Shadow or work for a local painting contractor on weekends or breaksLearning from experienced painters directly builds the skills you need to move from helper to painter.
  • Join a student group tied to construction or the trades if your campus has oneGroups like these offer hands-on projects, networking with industry people, and a way to show initiative to future employers.

Tips for getting started

  • Ask painters and contractors you meet whether you can shadow them on a job, and show up on time, clean, and ready to work. Reliability often matters more than experience at this level.
  • Learn basic safety habits early, like using ladders correctly and wearing a mask and eye protection around paint dust and fumes, because employers value workers who stay safe.
  • Get comfortable with simple measuring and math, such as figuring square footage and mixing ratios, since these skills come up on almost every painting job.

Related jobs that often lead here

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

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