The office setting was seen as being a superior work setting as it reflects a focus on mental attention and is safer for the worker. The white-collar worker was seen as having more responsibilities and a more important role in the economy. This reflects the idea that a white-collar https://personal-accounting.org/blue-collar-vs-white-collar-what-s-the-difference/ worker should belong to a higher, more educated social class, and deserves to be paid more for his or her work. The blue-collar work environment is often a factory floor, warehouse, farm, construction site or another place where lots of manual labor occurs.

Most significantly, in blue collar jobs, workers are often offered on-the-job training, and these workers often work on shifts. Moreover, they often receive an hourly rate, not a monthly salary. Some common blue collar jobs include electricians, mechanics, warehouse operatives, construction workers, telecoms engineers, unskilled or skilled labourers, etc. White collar jobs typically happen in an office setting in front of a desk and a computer.

Job requirements

As such, being a blue-collar worker doesn't mean that you're any less than someone who works in an office setting. The most obvious distinction between white collar vs. blue collar jobs is a white-collar worker works in an office setting with a desk and computer. Blue-collar workers can work in various non-office settings, such as warehouses, construction sites, workshops, production lines, outdoor areas, etc. Most white-collar employees earn an annual salary instead of an hourly wage and can have some degree of job security.

White-collar workers are often known as office workers, or suit-and-tie workers. They mostly work in offices as they work at a desk in clerical, administrative, or management settings. Their duties usually do not involve any physically taxing activities. Blue-collar workers include those in the manufacturing, farming, and construction industries.

White collar meaning

Likewise, there may be insecurity about the stability of the blue-collar worker's job, whether it be dependent on a contractual agreement with a third party or temporary. Today, safety concerns have influenced the dress code of many traditionally blue-collar jobs. Whether in the warehouse or factory, on an oil rig or in a coal mine, workers are likely wearing high-visibility fluorescent and sometimes reflective shirts and jackets. The blue work shirt has become something of a rarity on the job, more often being part of a uniform for sometimes public-facing workers like delivery drivers and mechanics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines common blue-collar jobs as those that require some education beyond high school but do not necessarily require a college degree. Blue collar mainly refers to workers who are engaged in manual labour.

Blue-collar workers are those who work in skilled or unskilled manual labor jobs. These jobs often require less education than white-collar jobs, though a growing number of employers are demanding that blue-collar workers have college degrees. Today, the difference between blue-collar and white-collar jobs is in some ways disappearing. Many traditional roles persist, such as construction jobs for blue-collar workers and attorneys and accountants in white-collar roles.

White-Collar vs. Blue-Collar Jobs

Keep in mind, though, that none of this is necessarily based on fact. Rather, it's all about what people are made to believe about how each is defined. The way blue-collar workers are paid depends on the industry in which they work. Individuals who work in blue-collar industries are often paid on an hourly basis, such as mechanics. Some workers are paid by the number of pieces they complete in a day, which is typical for those who work in factory settings. Workers are often divided into categories using different classifications.

• Many people still seek white-collar jobs more than blue-collar ones because those office jobs have a loftier perception.
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• Most white-collar employees earn an annual salary instead of an hourly wage and can have some degree of job security.
• This includes physicians working in hospitals, clinics, medical centers, nursing homes, and doctor's offices.
• They design roads, bridges, water treatment facilities, waste disposal sites, housing development, and other structures.
• Some may be more specialized, such as power plant operators, power distributors, and nuclear power plant operators.

In contrast, blue-collar jobs rarely provide any benefits package. Some people view white-collared jobs as more enticing simply due to benefits packages that come with those jobs. The makeup of blue- and white-collar jobs has changed significantly over the years.

Workers were historically divided into categories based on the type of attire they wore. While these distinctions still exist, the lines between these two categories are fading. While blue-collar jobs were once less desirable because of the type of work and pay involved compared to white-collar ones, people are beginning to change the way they think.

• Blue-collar jobs don't involve higher education and only require workers to have a high school diploma.
• The terms also don’t accurately classify people working freelance jobs or who take part in the gig economy.
• Gold collar signifies white-collar workers who come with higher skills and are in higher demand.
• An accountant's basic level covers bookkeeping, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, taxes, and general ledger.
• In addition, white-collar jobs often come with benefits like health insurance, paid vacation days, retirement plans, etc.

The name derives from the government's former compensation method. Cash and credit cards can each be useful in different situations, and both are vital to the economy. Similarly, blue- and white-collar workers perform different types of jobs, but both are necessary to keep the economy going. Below, you can find some general industries that tend to hire more white-collar or blue-collar workers. Keep in mind, that the same company in any given sector can employ both white-collar and blue-collar workers. A construction company, for example, will have blue-collar bricklayers on-site.

Her areas of interests include Arts and Literature, Language and Education, Nature and Animals, Cultures and Civilizations, Food, and Fashion. Preferred stock is a breed of stock that gives investors a higher claim to assets and dividends from a company (compared to common shareholders), but usually no voting rights. A payroll tax is a tax that employers deduct from their employees’ paychecks and send directly to the government. Start today by requesting a demo or posting a job for free to discover how Workable can help you find and hire great people. American writer Upton Sinclair is partially responsible for the modern understanding of the term white-collar, having used the phrase in conjunction with administrative work.

The fact that the definition of a blue-collar job leaves out details like the wage structure or skill requirements could be a useful distinction. Since more unskilled employees gravitate to blue-collar jobs, these positions may demand less upfront experience. Blue-collar workers are nearly always non-exempt employees, which means the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applies to them. Some roles are exempt from these labor protections, but that's almost never the case for blue-collar workers. As a result, blue-collar workers make an hourly wage rather than a salary.