There's also a relevant bias. The BLS does not adjust their wage percentiles to local cost of living/taxes. Software development jobs tend to be concentrated in high cost, high tax, high wage regions. By contrast tradesmen the demand for tradesmen is the same (per capita) just about everywhere. This bias makes the numbers difficult to compare. Suffice to say trades earn more in real terms, and software engineers earn less in real terms.
Electrician - https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472111.htm
Software Developer - https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151252.htm
Do you have a source for this? How much of that derives from tech workers generally living in high COL areas and needing higher salaries, while electricians are distributed throughout the land at all COL?
I have no doubt that high-earning engineers outearn high-earning electricians, but the assumption about this disparity seems suspect to me, without a source to back it up.
In Indiana, seems 75th percentile electricians earn about the same as 25th percentile software engineers. In Nebraska, it's 90th electricians and ~35th software engineers. A lot to take into consideration, and a wider gap then I expected in non-tech hubs.
The same informal research suggests a pretty consistent 60K or so for journeyman electricians. The range is tighter because skilled trade wages are subject to more regulation. Based on my knowledge of the Oregon & Washington prevaling wage rates (my wife works in accounting and has several small business electricians as customers), 60K does sound about right. Though as an hourly worker, it is not uncommon for them to sign up for more hours to push their yearly compensation above 100K.
Don't confuse owning a business that hires its electricians to customers with actually being an electrician. The former is very lucrative, the latter much less so. It takes many brutal years to get from the latter to the former.
[1] As opposed to QA, customer service, etc, which are more comparable hence the "tech worker" caveat