Make, repair and set fine jewellery. A bench trade learned in college or under a goldsmith, with a slow climb to your own shop.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Experienced goldsmith
$47,000
Junior bench
$33,000
Master setter or shop owner
$75,000
Job Bank's national median is $22.45 an hour, about $47,000 a year full time. The low is $16.09 and the high is $35.86 an hour. Skilled stone setters and goldsmiths in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal earn at the top. Designers who sell their own line can earn more or much less; it depends on the business.
$16 to $20 an hour
Junior bench jeweller doing sizing, polishing and simple repairs
Many graduates start at a chain store repair bench or a manufacturer. Pay is modest until you can set stones cleanly and fast.
$33 to $36 an hour
Master goldsmith or stone setter, or a bench with a waiting list
Custom engagement rings and complex setting are where the money is. Self-employed jewellers keep the full margin on custom work, and take on the cost of gold, stones and insurance.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a one year college jewellery program at the cheaper rate plus a starter set of bench tools. The high end is a three year program at the top of the tuition range, a fuller bench, and gemmology courses through the Canadian Gemmological Association. There is no required licence or exam, so nothing here is a legal gate: the Ontario Gemsetter and Goldsmith trade is voluntary. Because it is not a Red Seal trade the interest free Canada Apprentice Loan does not apply, though provincial student aid does cover the college programs.
Gemsetter/Goldsmith is not a Red Seal trade, so the federal Canada Apprentice Loan does not apply. Provincial student aid covers college programs.
Staff pricing on jewellery and materials
Health and dental
At chains and larger manufacturers. Rare at small studios.
Quiet, seated, indoor work
Unusual among the trades.
A craft you can do into old age
Many jewellers work past 65.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
College or an apprenticeship under a goldsmith, then years at the bench.
High school
Grades 10 to 12
Art, metalwork or tech classes. Any small, careful handwork helps.
Jewellery program or apprenticeship
1 to 3 years
Public colleges in Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax and Calgary run jewellery arts programs from 1 to 3 years. Or find a goldsmith who will train you at the bench.
Junior bench
1 to 2 years
Sizing, soldering, polishing, chain repair. Speed and cleanliness come with volume.
Stone setting and custom work
2 to 5 years
Prong, bezel, pave and channel setting. The skill that raises your pay most.
Gemmology (optional)
1 to 2 years part time
The Canadian Gemmological Association's FCGmA (Fellow of the Canadian Gemmological Association) diploma trains you to identify and grade stones.
Visual arts
Design, drawing, proportion.
Metalwork or technology
Soldering, filing, working small.
Chemistry
Alloys, acids, plating.
Business
Most jewellers end up self-employed.
No licence is needed to make or repair jewellery in Canada. Ontario has a voluntary Gemsetter/Goldsmith apprenticeship through Skilled Trades Ontario, which gives you a formal certificate but is not required to work. Gemmology diplomas and the Canadian Jewellers Association's accredited appraiser designation are voluntary credentials that build trust with customers.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Stone setting
Especially micro-pave and invisible setting. Setters are the best-paid bench workers.
CAD (computer-aided design) and 3D printing
Most custom rings are now designed on screen and cast from a printed model.
Gemmology
Identifying and grading diamonds and coloured stones. Needed for appraisal work.
Accredited appraiser
The Canadian Jewellers Association runs an accredited appraiser designation. Appraisals are steady, well-paid work.
Laser welding
Repairs next to heat-sensitive stones. A skill shops pay for.
Good eyesight and steady hands
You work under magnification all day.
Patience
A ring can take days.
Retail experience
Custom work starts with a conversation.
Social media
Independent jewellers sell through Instagram and their own sites.
Many jewellers launch a brand: a small collection sold online, at markets and through boutiques. Start-up is a bench, tools and a few thousand dollars of metal and stones. It is creative and can pay well, but you become a marketer and bookkeeper too, and gold prices swing your costs.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
At the bench by 9am under a bright lamp and a loupe. A tray of repairs: three ring sizings, a broken chain, a loose stone to tighten. Then a custom job: file and finish a cast ring, set the centre stone, polish. Talk to a customer about a redesign of their grandmother's ring. Torch, files, saw, polishing wheel. Small, precise, quiet. Christmas and engagement season are the rush.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Gemsetter/Goldsmith is a voluntary apprenticeship trade through Skilled Trades Ontario. You can work without it, but it is one of the few formal credentials for the bench in Canada.
The Northwest Territories has produced diamonds since the Ekati mine opened in 1998. Some Canadian jewellers market stones laser-inscribed with their Canadian origin.
The Canadian Jewellers Association traces its roots to 1884, when it began as the Jewellers Security Alliance of Canada, and today runs the accredited appraiser designation.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.