I have a male friend who is in child support arrears due to lack of work.(House painting).
I keep encouraging him to change careers but he feels they will take ALL of his pay if he works on the books. He is extremely stuck. Is this true?

He is in a situation that is at least partially of his own creation. Once his income changed he should have petitioned for a modification of the support amount. He continued to let arrears pile up. He could continue to work under the table and risk being jailed, tax intercepts, and suspension of professional and operators licences. Or, he can provide the support that he is required to by law, and pay the arrears through payroll garnishment. The amount WILL be higher than the current support because he is in arrears, but is capped at a certain amount of his income (there are state calculators for this) The debt isn't going away and hiding from it will make it worse.

Sure he is stuck. Hes refusing to support his child. It will follow him around forever unless he decides to start contributing. Also if he gets caught at this stage he may even face prison time. Are you sure you need friends like this?

He is the type of man that does ( and should) go to jail for non support. They take away drivers license and other issues.

He needs to get to court and set the amount to its proper and set a plan to pay arrears.

Sorry he has no plan to pay and no desire to pay,

What percentage of a person's income can they garnish if child support is in arrears?

Sixty

Sixty

Does the ex-wife have to petition the employer for it or is it automatic?

Seldom is anything automatic, are you using chid support enforcement though the state ?

Normally you have to ask for a garnishment in court when you file against him for non payment