What Is Blue Collar?

The term blue collar is an old, an🀅d perhaps outdated, term that is used to describe a job that is done outside the office. It typically requires manual labor or trade skills.

The term derives from the🤪 darker clothing blue collar workers😼 tend to wear, distinguishing them from white collar workers who traditionally wear a white shirt and tie to work. Needless to say, those lines are blurring.

Some fields that fall into this category include construction, manufacturing, maintenance, and mining.

Blue collar and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:working class are often used as synonyms.

Understanding the Color Classification

Classifying workers by the color of their shirts dates back to 🍷the early 1920s. This categorization system was based on 🏅the color or type of clothing people wore while working.

Uniforms or work gear for many of these jobs were blue. Other types of workers include 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:white collar wor꧙kers, gold collar workers, pink collar workers, red collar workers, and green collar workꦚers.

Many blue collar workers perform physical labor. Coal miners, masons, bricklayers, boilermakers, and welders traditionally wore darker colors. They may wear overalls, chambray shirts, or jeans, all in the color blu🐓e.

Blue collar is still used to refer to the section of the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:labor force that performs manual labor🔴. The jobs may be in fac🌊tories, plants, or mines, or on farms.

༺Many blue collar workers wor꧟k with heavy machinery, using skills that can be acquired on the job or through trade schools.

๊ Some common blue collar jobs include welders, mechani♛cs, electricians, and construction workers.

Many require specialized skills. Power plant operators, power d🐓istributors, and nuclea꧙r power plant operators all require extensive training.

Many of today's blue collar workers are highly trained and skilled and are paid accordingly.

Although much blue collar work still entails some manual labor, advancements in technology have required highly-skilled blue collar workers iꦬn industries such as aeronautics, film-making, electronics, and energy.

They may not require a four-year college degree, but many blue collar jobs require highly skilled personnel with specialized training and a license or certificate from an apprenticeship program or trade school.

Blue Collar vs. White Collar

White collar work is commonly contrasted with blue ಞcollar work. Some of the🉐 main differences between blue collar work and white collar work include the work environment, the required educational background, the job responsibilities, and types of compensation (hourly vs. salary).

Work Environment

Blue collar employees often work in industrial settings w🌊ear⛎ing blue (or dark) clothing.

White collar workers were traditionally cla💮ssified as such because of the white shirts they wore to work, often with a suit and tie. Their jobs are normally situated in offices, where they sit at desks and use comꦬputers.

Remote work from home or co-working spaces is changing this pattern, as is a loosening of dr﷽ess codes in some professions.

Education and Skills

Most white collar jobs require at least an undergraduate college degree. Higher positions often re🥂quire higher educational credentials, licenses, and special certifications.

For instance, an accountant for a corporation needs a degree in accounting or finance while a financial analyst needs the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:certified financial analyst (CFA) designation.

Most💯 white collar jobs now require basic computer and softw🌠are skills. Those who hope for advancement may also need people management skills.

Blue collar roles require certifications 🌳from trade schools.

Examples

Some of the most common white collar jobs include:

• Administrative assistant
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Accountant
• Consultant
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Marketing manager
• Executive director
• Computer programmer

White collar jobs come with annual salaries. Blue collar roles, in contrast, typically pay workers by the hour or by the job.

Blue Collar vs. Other Collars

There are other lesser-known collar colors that represent other segments of the workforce. Unlike white and blue collars, these categories are not derived from their workers wearing an💯y particular color. They include the following.

• Gold Collar: This segment includes fields like law and medicine. This is a reference, presumably, to the high salaries these professionals command.
• Gray Collar: These individuals work white collar jobs, and they regularly perform blue collar tasks as part of their jobs. Some engineers, for example, are gray color workers.
• Pink Collar: These jobs are in service fields, such as nursing, teaching, and retail sales. The pink collar denotes fields traditionally dominated by women.
• Red Collar: These are civil servants. The classification is a reference to the red ink used to denote salaries in a budget.
• Green Collar: This segment refers to jobs in the environmental sector, such as conservation and sustainability-related jobs.
  
  

Examples of Blue Collar Jobs and Wages

Workers in some trade fields can earn more than their salaried counterparts. Nuclear technicians, boilermakers, and avionics technicians earn more than $70,000 per year, which is higher than what the average college graduate earns after graduation.

Since most blue collar jobs pay by the hour, working overtime could mean that a blue collar worker can earn six figures in a year. Some blue collar jobs also pay by the project or follow a salary scheme. In short, the color of your collar doesn't necessarily dictate the level of your income. 

Here are some top-paying blue co𓃲llar jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These are the average an🔯nual salaries as of May 2023, the latest available survey: 

• Nuclear power reactor operator: $121,240
• First-line supervisors of firefighters: $90,740
• Boilermakers: $73,840
• Supervisors of construction and extraction workers: $81,340
• Avionics technician: $77,080

The Bottom Line

Blue collar ꦺis a type of job. It was traditionally used to describe jobs that required little educati🐠on and skills; however, that has changed, thanks to the specialized training and technology knowledge that many blue collar jobs now require. Many blue collar workers earn as much or more than their white collar counterparts.