Blue-Collar is the new White-Collar

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The term, “blue-collar” job was first seen in print 100 years ago. One hundred years ago though, a blue-collar job had a nose-up from the white-collar workers. Blue-collar workers typically worked as coal miners, masons, bricklayers, welders, and other jobs that were dirty, and dirt wouldn’t show on blue. Jeans were one of the most popular things to wear as well as overalls. These workers were considered those who didn’t have an education and made a significant amount of money less than a white-collar worker who worked in a professional office environment such as the government or accounting.

In 1970, blue-collar jobs were about a third of the total employment that were nonfarming jobs. Nearly 50 years later in 2016, blue-collar employment had dropped to a little over 10% and they have still been declining. The number of blue-collar jobs though did not change much from 1979 to 2000. In 1979 there were 25 million jobs and in 2000 it was 24.6 million blue-collar jobs. When the recession hit in 2008 hit, jobs fell to 17.8 million but now they’ve perked up to 19.6 million.

In February of 2023, it was said that “blue-collar jobs could see a mass worker shortage soon.” The reason is that baby boomers, those who worked the majority of the blue-collar jobs, were all retiring and for the past several decades, kids were being bombarded with going to college. Blue-collar jobs pay well but no one is taking them on as they were told to get the “American dream” you need to have a bachelor’s degree. Most people now are going to college without a plan or career in mind just because they were told to, “go to college to be successful.”

What most of the younger generation does not know now is how many advantages there are in the blue-collar job if you just put in a bit of elbow grease. Most blue-collar jobs are much more stable, as in, they don’t downsize because they are always needed. This goes from plumbers to electricians to construction workers. The biggest thing is that they pay well, the highest in the country are construction workers and transportation workers. Though not all may pay a high wage they are a decent wage. Many blue-collar jobs also offer great benefits from medical, retirement, and vacation. It is one of the biggest advantages over white-collar jobs besides possible ownership. If you are a plumber, electrician, truck driver, or construction worker you can easily start your own business.

There are several “color-labeled” jobs such as pink-collar, gold-collar, and green-collar to name a few. But white-collar vs blue-collar jobs are the terms that are compared the most. Blue-collared jobs are the ones that seem to have the highest rate of still being an opportunity for growth since many other jobs are being taken over by robotics or AI. There will always be a need for someone there to physically replace a pipe, electric wire or to lay a floor.

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