Fame
Welders are not famous.
There was a riveter who was pretty famous once. What was her name again? She looked really good in a jean jacket and a polka dot bandanna. By and large, welders do not make it onto posters. Or talk shows. Or the local news.
They're a key part of the great American infrastructure, so they sometimes get name-dropped as a collective, as representatives of the American workforce who actually build and produce things. Maybe you'll hear a politician make some oblique reference to "Willy the Welder."
But chances are the only way you'll ever actually know a welder by name is if there were some heinous accident directly attributable to welding. If a two-story building collapsed because all the beams were held together by duct tape, then Joe Shlackman, incompetent welder, might become a household name.
Otherwise, welders aren't gonna become famous. Sorry.