Blue Collar v. White Collar

We all have heard the story of the plumber who had a family and they wanted to send their children off to college so that they would have a better life than he did.  He did not want to see his sons work their fingers to the bone and have it as bad as they did.  So he sent his sons off to college, one son studied business and the other became a doctor.   Many blue-collar jobs like plumbers, electricians, and carpenters are considered low skill occupations, but many of them make substantially more than their white-collar counterparts. Over the last few years, studies have shown that blue collar workers are out earning their white-collar counterparts almost 2 to 1.  So should all of us that are low-level white-collar workers quit our jobs and go to trade schools and learn how to work with our hands as opposed to using our brains and computers?  Computers have taken over the white-collar jobs.  Maybe so, but there is the saying “the world needs ditch diggers” or in this case “the world needs claim processors.”  Has corporate America devalued the American worker who has the college degree as opposed to the person who builds houses or fixes leaks for a living.

Before we all decide to leave our jobs and start applying for all the trade schools and start becoming apprentices to master electricians and carpenters, we should examine the difference between the two and why one is more obsolete than the other.  Blue collar workers did not require a lot of education, just being able to follow directions and be able to communicate.  White collar workers were thought to have more skills than blue-collar workers because most white-collar jobs require more education or a college degree.  Most blue-collar jobs have now been replaced by robots, shipped overseas, or have become scarce because as older workers retire, they do not replace themselves. There has been some demand to bring back some of these professions from overseas to stabilize the economy.  Robots have been able to do some of these jobs such as manufacturing and warehouse work because robots can work longer and do jobs with more precision than a human being is able to do.  So some of these jobs may never come back because robots have replaced them.  However, machinery does need repair or upgraded, and human beings don’t need to be upgraded or repaired, just trained, or retrained to do another job.  So the debate will continue should we use a real human being to do that job or should we rely on a robot to do the job.  Back to the argument that machines break down and need maintenance, human beings must do those jobs, not only with robots, but with household items, automobiles, and other mechanical things.  So we do need some blue-collar workers for some of these jobs.  We also need plumbers, electricians, carpenters, stonemasons, and other contractors to build the houses and the office buildings that we will need as the population continues to increase.

White-collar workers are those professions like clerks, office workers, computer programmers, and executives that manage and operate corporations.  Most of these people have some form of higher education other than a high school diploma.   There are many of these jobs available like sales, phone representatives, bank tellers, retail workers, and food service workers.  Many of these jobs are highly stressful and have a high turnover.  Some of these positions are commission based or rely on tips because business owners pay a low wage and force the worker to work longer or harder to make a living.  The jobs may not be as messy or as dangerous as some blue-collar workers but many of these deal with human beings and many human beings can be cruel and when they are not being treated that they feel that they should be treated they make the person feel awful which makes jobs stressful, and these workers feel that there is a better job out there for them.  Robots cannot do these jobs because you must be able to use discretion because not everything with human beings is black and white.  Jobs like law enforcement, social work, and mental health require a certain touch and a robot is cold and unfeeling and is programmed by someone who may not be able to understand human emotion or compassion and a robot can not learn that. 

So neither blue-collar nor white-collar have it all on the positive side.  If you like working with people and want to make a difference, maybe a white-collar job is for you, but if you want to work with your hands or have a mechanical mind, then maybe a blue-collar job is right up your alley.