Would you believe the Bureau of Labor Statistics? Here are the "Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2022" for "51-7011 Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters"
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes517011.htm Percentile wage estimates for Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters:
Percentile 10% 25% 50% 75% 90%
(Median)
Hourly Wage $ 14.00 $ 16.61 $ 18.66 $ 22.91 $ 28.16
Annual Wage (2) $ 29,120 $ 34,550 $ 38,810 $ 47,660 $ 58,570
(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.
The "Top paying industries for Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters" are:
Employment Annual mean wage
Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing 240 $ 60,520
Federal Executive Branch 190 $ 60,460
In the "Industries with the highest concentration of employment in Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters" the best paying is:
Motor Vehicle Body 3,040 $ 49,990
and Trailer Manufacturing
The most common (at 20% of the industry) is:
Furniture and Related 68,860 $ 41,620
Product Manufacturing
While there is the caveat, "Estimates do not include self-employed workers", the example at
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37397458 was for employees.
EDIT: in 2001 the mean annual wage for cabinetmakers and bench carpenters was $25,120 with median of $10.74/hour and mean of $11.40. https://archive.org/details/welcometoamerica00demi/page/984/... . (It is the oldest record I could find, published in "Welcome to America : the complete guide for immigrants : the English-Russian version".)
What did your father do in the cabinet field to get $20 an hour in 1991?
The "Top paying industries for Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters" are:
In the "Industries with the highest concentration of employment in Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters" the best paying is: The most common (at 20% of the industry) is: While there is the caveat, "Estimates do not include self-employed workers", the example at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37397458 was for employees.EDIT: in 2001 the mean annual wage for cabinetmakers and bench carpenters was $25,120 with median of $10.74/hour and mean of $11.40. https://archive.org/details/welcometoamerica00demi/page/984/... . (It is the oldest record I could find, published in "Welcome to America : the complete guide for immigrants : the English-Russian version".)
What did your father do in the cabinet field to get $20 an hour in 1991?