Is Birmingham Primarily White Collar? (2013, job market, college)

[Blazin65]

Is there such a thing as classifying a city primarily white collar or primarily blue collar? I was discussing this with someone the other day trying to compare Birmingham to some other cities like Pittsburgh. To me, Birmingham seems primarily white collar. Pittsburgh seems more blue collar. I could be totally wrong on this. It's just my opinion and not based on any hardcore facts.

I'm not saying this is bad thing or good thing. I'm just trying to describe the city based on the number of jobs in white collar versus blue collar.

I'm curious what others would have to say?

[steveklein]

I would say Birmingham is decidedly blue collar as opposed to white collar by whatever measure you want to use.

Incomes are below the national average, college degree obtainment (as well as graduate degrees) are below the national average... what makes you think of Birmingham as white collar?

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by steveklein

I would say Birmingham is decidedly blue collar as opposed to white collar by whatever measure you want to use.

Incomes are below the national average, college degree obtainment (as well as graduate degrees) are below the national average... what makes you think of Birmingham as white collar?

Probably because the people he comes in contact with on a daily basis are white collar. Many people make this assumption.

To me, it isn't a necessarily flawed assumption, because all cities have a mix of all types. So, to answer your question OP, I don't think you really can classify unless you're just talking numbers.

[TimCity2000]

Certainly grew up as a blue collar city. So in that way, it's more white collar now than in years past.

But I don't think of it as a particularly white collar city. Maybe pretty evenly split, to be honest. For all the jobs in banking and medicine, we still have quite a few in manufacturing and automotive, for example.

I'm sure somewhere you could find a rough breakdown of jobs in the city, at least by service sector.

[_OT]

Mixed.

It's not really a bad thing either, means a more diverse Job Market.

[Blazin65]

Thanks for the feedback.

Maybe it's just my feeling that Pittsburgh is more blue collar than B'ham.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by steveklein

I would say Birmingham is decidedly blue collar as opposed to white collar by whatever measure you want to use.

Incomes are below the national average, college degree obtainment (as well as graduate degrees) are below the national average... what makes you think of Birmingham as white collar?

Well, let's look at the statistics:

https://birminghambusinessalliance.c...data/industry/

Using 2013 numbers the total workforce was 507,300. Total employment in healthcare, finance, business services, and tech were somewhere around 262,300. That's more than half by a wide margin. So more white-collar than blue-collar.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Well, let's look at the statistics:

https://birminghambusinessalliance.c...data/industry/

Using 2013 numbers the total workforce was 507,300. Total employment in healthcare, finance, business services, and tech were somewhere around 262,300. That's more than half by a wide margin. So more white-collar than blue-collar.

Do you think a janitor that works at a hospital is white collar?

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by steveklein

Do you think a janitor that works at a hospital is white collar?

You realize that works both ways, right? I have a couple of manufacturing clients. A large percentage of employees in those places never get dirty, working in executive, management, sales, IT, and financial. Meanwhile, I think it's pretty safe to assume that financial is almost exclusively white collar, as is education.

I mean, if you want to be tedious about matters and break it down by position-by-position description and do a headcount then knock yourself out.

[MPC]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Well, let's look at the statistics:

https://birminghambusinessalliance.c...data/industry/

Using 2013 numbers the total workforce was 507,300. Total employment in healthcare, finance, business services, and tech were somewhere around 262,300. That's more than half by a wide margin. So more white-collar than blue-collar.

I think you misinterpreted the information on the page. The orange highlighted areas are key components to the three major sectors. Total employment for those 4 categories are 181,600; about 36 percent of the total.

Here is an updated economic summary from the BLS, the same place the BBA got their information
https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeas...birmingham.pdf

As of June 2017, the four categories you mentioned total 189.4k, of 528.9k jobs; or roughly 36 percent of job force.