If he was good enough to regularly command his desired wage goal at a given shop, he wouldn't have to move from shop to shop.... The shop owner would keep him there if all were making money consistently at that level. Very simple to soak up the limited amount of good work in one place, exhaust the supply and then have to go elsewhere to do it all over again. Average out the in-between $$ droughts into the "good" money and it's probably not big pay income.
I worked federal program employment services years ago, regularly referencing labor wage tables & stats as referenced above as I serviced layoffs for large companies like LockHeed Martin in Oak Ridge TN for numerous technically overqualified but now irrelevant skill sets. The salary data, just like job estimator costing tools with regional adjustments, are relevant as a point of reference but not absolute. As with any quality statistical information, outlier data points are typically discarded so as not to shift the mean, median and mode up or down in a statistically significant manner. So someone building a serious car from scratch for a six figure paycheck is not deemed as equivalent to fender replacement. If there are not enough such specialists, there may not be a section on the table for that specialty. The real specialists defy the data. That's what makes them special.
Since then and after nearly two decades in a specialty field comparable to (actually much less common than) higher end metal work, nearly all of us in the USA are either self-employed in our own studio or contract workers (to avoid the specific obligations & legalities of being "partner") for such a studio owner. whatever the $$ split- 50-50, 60-40, there is no "employment" remaining like there used to be unless you are a min wage helper. Union bill of $20-$24/hr plus all the benefits is not sustainable for my specialty anymore even within the industry, so it's every man and woman for themselves. There's money to be made, but not in a manner conducive to typical business operations.
In the end, he is worth what he gets paid- just like the rest of us. No skin in the game and able to walk at any time (right to work state?) while someone else chases the work and keeps the lights on means less guaranteed compensation. Let him work his way up from $15-$18/hr to his desired $30/hr wage. If you are not going to simply hire him with related significant costs to cover, better to do a minor split with opportunity for a bonus percentage at end if it's there. Keep him obligated to keep him serious and participating in the overall success- not just his. Otherwise let him wreck someone else's program. jmho.
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