The evidence can be found in the data, which shows higher unemployment for workers in business services and a lower one for people who work in manufacturing.
America’s job market increasingly appears to be splitting into two tracks, economists say, alongside a steady demand for skilled workers and a flagging interest in hiring more “knowledge-based” professionals.
The evidence can be found in the data, which shows a higher unemployment rate for professional and business services workers, and a lower one for people who work in manufacturing.
“It’s a buyer’s market for brain and a seller’s market for brawn,” said Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at the jobs and workplace search site Glassdoor.
Oh, cool, looks like I left blue collar and got a college degree just in the nick of time.
For a long time US Society has held that College Degrees don’t go with “Skilled Labor” or “Blue Collar” but it’s not true. As an example I know two Civil Engineers, something most people would consider White Collar, who spend nearly all of their time out in the field. One of them with a State DOT overseeing Road Construction and the other with the Federal Government overseeing work on Dams.
I also know an Electrical Engineer who spends most of their time out in the field working with Power Systems, both transmission and generation. I know EE who works full time at a Refinery, overseeing a crew of Electricians as they maintain the refineries internal power system.
All of those people would be considered “White Collar” since they are Engineers with College Degrees but their day to day work has them out getting dirty and tired.
It’s not just Engineers either. If your Degree relates to something that requires tangible work, not just moving numbers around on a spreadsheet, it’s quite likely you’ll be fine. You just need to get a job and then work as close to the physical production as possible.
Someone will need to manage the blue collar folks. Having experience in a work field and a degree is likely what owners/bosses will still be needing to hire. They need less middle managers for mundane data tracking purposes. Front Line management will always be around.