In addition, many blue-collar workers attend college or have graduated with degrees and moved into traditionally blue-collar fields because they enjoy the work or out of necessity. Moreover, there are ~30 million jobs in the U.S. that pay an average of $55,000 per year and do not require bachelor’s degrees. While the wage gap between students who earn bachelor’s degrees and those who do not reached a record high in 2022, pre- and post-pandemic data indicates blue-collar wages are growing at a faster rate than wages for white-collar jobs. Many blue-collar jobs involve physically demanding tasks outdoors or around heavy machinery.
- This dynamic leaves blue-collar industries facing serious perception challenges.
- Understanding that these positions have value and deserve appropriate compensation will go a long way toward removing some of the old class distinctions and connotations from work.
- Blue-collar workers, by comparison, may only need on-the-job training or to attend a trade school to develop their skills.
- K12 offers a number of Destinations Career Academies and programs for students, which combine traditional high school academics with Career Education to help prepare students for their futures.
- A few years later, King was earning $16 an hour as a full-time apprentice machinist, while Teledyne paid for him to attend community college two nights a week.
While the curriculum is evolving, we need to help more high schools improve the link between high school and work. If you want to be sure the school you’re considering is accredited (which is always a good idea to help ensure your investment will pay off in the end) check the U.S. You can also check the site for the state education department where the school is located to be sure it’s licensed. It may be tempting to choose a career path just because of the earnings potential. But, it’s always better to factor in your own passions and interests as well. If you enjoy helping others, a nursing path might be a great fit for you, for example.
The Impact for Middle and High School Students
“If you took one of these jobs we prepare you for, which requires more than a high school diploma, but less than a college degree, more than 50 percent of those jobs will pay more than the jobs that require four-year [college] degrees,” King says. In
manufacturing alone, job openings jumped significantly between October 2017 and
October 2018—from 410,000 to 522,000, according to the BLS. Still, manufacturing
jobs have steadily fallen as a share of employment for decades, meaning fewer
and fewer https://accounting-services.net/product-costs/ people are taking manufacturing positions to earn a living. Such jobs accounted for about 25 percent of the labor force in 1970—or about 1 in 4 jobs—but less than 13 percent in 2016, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, which relied on BLS data. The terms “blue-collar” and “white-collar” distinguish workers who perform manual labor from workers who perform professional jobs. Historically, blue-collar workers wore uniforms, usually blue, and worked in trade occupations.
- Members may download one copy of our sample forms and templates for your personal use within your organization.
- New-collar jobs (also called middle-skill or no-collar jobs) are those that prioritize worker skills over education, particularly in industries like technology and health care.
- These can be side hustles to supplement another job or a main source of income.
- While the curriculum is evolving, we need to help more high schools improve the link between high school and work.
- At the same time, many companies are desperate for workers and not meeting the diversity goals that could help them perform better while also reducing social and economic inequality.
And, just like white-collar or blue-collar jobs, some new-collar positions pay better than others. While white-collar job loss has been a trending topic, less mainstream media coverage focused on the persistent gap in blue-collar hiring. For example, the durable goods manufacturing industry has more unfilled job openings than unemployed workers with experience. In fact, even if every unemployed person with experience in the durable goods manufacturing were employed, the industry would only fill roughly 30% of the vacant jobs. For blue-collar employers searching for employees, two main factors are complicating their search.
Other Collar Colors to Know
And Ginni is a former CEO of IBM who expanded opportunities there for people of diverse backgrounds and who now serves as a cochair of OneTen, a coalition of employers committed to hiring Black workers without four-year degrees into family-sustaining jobs. Many workers today are stuck in low-paying jobs, unable to advance simply because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. At the same time, many companies are desperate for workers and not meeting the diversity goals that could help them perform better while also reducing social and economic inequality.
- A 2018 report by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute projected that between 2018 and 2028, there could be as many as 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing jobs.
- To remedy this situation more parents, employers, and communities need to partner with public schools to make K-12 education more effective.
- Due to this skills gap, many jobs stay open because there aren’t enough qualified applicants to fill them.
The “gig economy” and services like Uber, Lyft, Fiver and Upwork have created a class of professionals who may work for “blue-collar” wages but sometimes employ white-collar skills and knowledge sets. These can be side hustles to supplement another job or a main source of income. Blue-collar and white-collar work traditionally refers to the unofficial “uniforms” of each job type.
The pandemic has helped catapult Americans in low-paying roles into more upwardly mobile careers
He believes companies would rather hire foreign immigrants or move their operations overseas, where people with blue-collar skills are often more plentiful, than pay higher wages for those same people in the U.S. As the labor market reorders, more Americans are making the leap from blue-collar jobs and hourly work to “new collar” roles that often involve tech skills and come with better pay and schedules. Employers, parents, and educators need to stop referring to these new-collar jobs as “trades and vocations”.
Tomislav Mihaljevic, the CEO of Cleveland Clinic, told us that he’s tried to make sure that everybody in his organization understands the “why.” A skills-first approach, he says, “cannot be ‘mandated’ in the classical sense of the word. “I have to drive a culture that embraces this as a way of doing business,” he says. Companies shouldn’t expect workers hired through a skills-first approach to assimilate to their new environment without appropriate support. Leaders should therefore update their corporate norms and practices to embed skills-first thinking throughout talent management. That’s how they’ll get the most from both their new employees and their existing workforce. It’s crucial to stop them from using traditional degrees or prior work experience as proxies for a candidate’s capability.
Department of Labor helps young people get great jobs and become independent. Job Corps’ mission is to attract eligible people ages 16-24, teach them the skills they need to become employable, and place them in meaningful jobs or further education. Pophal is also sending teachers back to school for master’s degrees at the local Blackhawk Technical College so they can teach specialized classes that earn students college credit. Some of the city’s high schools are creating programs in mechatronics, a growing field that combines mechanical engineering and electronics.
- Mindful of that, IBM created an “enterprise skills team” consisting of a dozen senior and emerging leaders who together identified the most important qualifications for a range of entry-level roles.
- Ultimately, a skills-first approach will yield the greatest benefit if organizations extend it beyond hiring and make it core to how they think about cultivating and retaining talent.
- Leaders should therefore update their corporate norms and practices to embed skills-first thinking throughout talent management.
- Federal financial aid is extremely limited or non-existent at trade schools, and Fynn is aiming to fill that void while closing the blue-collar hiring and skills gaps.
- Remember that getting the right education and training are key when it comes to transitioning to a lucrative and fulfilling new-collar job.
- Most public school curriculums are designed with the assumption that all students aspire to go to college.
- Those who have completed skilled-trade apprenticeships represent about three-tenths of 1 percent of the entire U.S. workforce, he said.
One-third of employers are dissatisfied with the young people’s relevant work experience. Only 5% of individuals in the United States believe high school graduates are well equipped for employment, and only 13% believe college graduates are well prepared. Companies should provide on-ramps—such as apprenticeships, internships, and training programs—for people who have aptitude but are untraditional candidates. It’s also a good idea to speak The Rise of the No Collar Job: What Schools Need to Know with a career coach, or a trusted professional already working in the field, about your choices before officially committing on a track. Remember that getting the right education and training are key when it comes to transitioning to a lucrative and fulfilling new-collar job. The co-founder and CEO of ZipRecruiter, Ian Siegel, advises job seekers to do some online research to see what kinds of jobs are available that are of interest.
For example, a cybersecurity job posting once would have listed the experience and degrees required. Now it lists desired skills and attributes and focuses on the core capabilities needed to do the job, such as being able to develop hypotheses and apply programming languages. Most white-collar employees earn an annual salary instead of an hourly wage and can have some degree of job security. Blue-collar workers often receive hourly wages and shift assignments each week. White-collar jobs often provide retirement benefits and PTO (Paid Time Off) to their employees, whereas blue-collar jobs may not provide as much. White-collar work traditionally signifies membership in a higher social class than that of blue-collar workers, but the borders are constantly shifting.
Skillit operates by vetting workers via trade-specific assessments, then provides potential employers with relevant talent insights related to compensation, training, and retention. Beginning early in a child’s education, these new lab schools can produce amazing results by creating a strong K-12 education focused on reading, math, and science. Students are encouraged to enroll in applied science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes that will prepare them for new-collar jobs at an early age. Ultimately, a skills-first approach will yield the greatest benefit if organizations extend it beyond hiring and make it core to how they think about cultivating and retaining talent. At Aon the success of apprenticeships for back-office roles spurred the addition of apprenticeships in risk management, actuarial science, and investment consulting—jobs at the center of the firm’s mission.