Navy Warns: Amazon And Buc-Ee's Wages Undercut Shipbuilding Jobs

War is a big business, but if the United States wants to build its own warships, the country may have to raise its wages. U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan commented on the state of U.S. shipbuilding at a defense summit in Fort Wayne, Indiana in mid-November, 2025. Phelan highlighted pay disparity as a contributing factor to the shipbuilding struggle.

"I think this is really an issue of wages, to be honest, when I look at it across states," Phelan said at the summit, via Business Insider. "It's hard to get that person to want to do that job." Phelan added that Navy wages at or under the wage level of jobs at Buc-ee's stores or Amazon positions wouldn't attract or sustain shipbuilders. Shipbuilding involves welding, carpentry, engineering, steel-cutting, metal bending, plumbing, working with electrical and electronic systems, as well as a host of other quick thinking moves, long-term planning, and hard labor.

However, Navy shipbuilding is nowhere near the highest-paying American jobs in 2025, or any sort of average income of 10 upper-class jobs. Phelan's comments that a Navy shipbuilder would make around the same (or less) as an average Bucc-ee's or Amazon employee highlights a longstanding issue with Naval wages.

A range of jobs are involved with shipbuilding, and so are a range of salaries. In data aggregated by ZipRecruiter, hourly pay at any United States Navy shipyard averages out to $23.42 an hour, with lowest wages listed at $15.38 and highest at $31.73 per hour. 75% of Navy shipyard workers earn an hourly wage of $25.72.

Bucc-ee's doesn't have too wildly different a range of pay. The convenience store chain also has a range of jobs and salaries, but ZipRecruiter lists average hourly pay at $21.05 an hour, with $14.42 at the lowest hourly wage, and $62.98 at the highest. However, ZipRecruiter lists 75% of Bucc-ee's pay sits at $17.31 an hour. Amazon Warehouse jobs do not pay much differently than Bucc-ee's work. ZipRecruiter's aggregated data lists the national average paid to Amazon Warehouse workers as $17.31 an hour, with lowest wages at $11.30 and highest wages at $21.88. Per Ziprecruiter, 75% of the nation's Amazon Warehouse workers earn $18.27 an hour.

If the average bulk of U.S. Navy shipyard worker earns $25.72 an hour, compared to Amazon's $18.27 an hour and Bucc-ee's $17.31 an hour, that means shipyard workers only earn around $8 more an hour than these Phelan-inspired "competitors." A shipbuilder may have just as much need to develop clever tricks to save money at Bucc-ee's as the rest of working-class America.

Skilled labor, specialized skills, and risks of danger are just a few reasons pay ought to be increased for shipbuilding work. Fortifying shipbuilding in the U.S. is a bipartisan concern, as well as an issue President Donald Trump has highlighted. Trump's executive order, Restoring America's Maritime Dominance, was written on April 9, 2025. That order states: "Recent data shows that the United States constructs less than one percent of commercial ships globally, while the People's Republic of China (PRC) is responsible for producing approximately half."

Concerns with dependence on other nations aside (which is also written into the E.O.), one reason global buyers aren't purchasing U.S.-built warships is because shipbuilding is often delayed by years, as well as over budget. The Navy can't even meet its own needs for building carriers and submarines, in part due to the interference of private companies, and in spite of billions of dollars invested into the industry. However, most delays can be chalked up to two main causes: a lack of physical space for builds and repairs, and a lack of workers to do that building. The Navy's shipbuilding plans also rarely align with the actual size of the Naval workforce.

The Navy's plans also clash with Trump's tariffs. Tariffs impact everyday budgets, and Trump's steel tariffs directly impact price and sourcing of metals needed for shipbuilding. Taxpayers should pay attention to news about budgetary increases for shipbuilding, of course. Any needed increase in pay comes from taxpayers directly.