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Blue collar work is exalted and put up on a pedestal. If any work is unappreciated, it's professional work. We are lower paid than you and no one exalts us and proclaims our virtue
Blue collar work is exalted and put up on a pedestal. If any work is unappreciated, it's professional work. We are lower paid than you and no one exalts us and proclaims our virtue
Nah, I'd say a good portion of American society puts cube slaves in tall office buildings on a pedestal and writes off blue collar workers as "dumb" and "uneducated." Why dealing with monotonous paperwork all day is given a higher status by many than creating something tangible is beyond me, but that's how it is.
I thought about this for the longest time about why everyone wants to work in an office and why office work is more respected even though we all secretly know that blue collar workers are the foundation of modern society. If blue collar work never existed, where would office workers work? Yet office work is seen as superior.
I realized that it's not about salary, it's about how we LOOK. White collar workers are more respected simply be cause they LOOK better. Stereotypically, they wear business suits to business casual. Blue collar workers wear dirty T-shirts, plaid shirts, and jeans. Which simply LOOKS better? Which looks more powerful and clean-cut and which looks dumpy and low?
Also, we may not be aware of it, but when we watch TV or movies, we see characters in sleek, business suits walking into shiny office buildings with shiny furniture. They speak professionally, act more mannered, and look more polished. But blue collar workers tend to be rougher in speech, live in trailers, and are scruffy. They speak more casually and their mannerisms are more unrefined. Sure, it may be fiction and many are stereotypes, but what we see on TV and in the movies really matter and subconsciously influence us. This is why office work is boosted up and blue collar work is pushed down.
Think about the people who come into your home to re-model. Sure, they may be nice people with whom you can have small talk, but are they wearing business suits/khakis/blouses/cardigans to fix your heater or build your cabinets?
This may sound shallow, but looks really do matter.
I do agree, I think a lot of those jobs are under appreciated even by people who make far less money. I think sometimes an office worker making $18/hour looks down on an electrician making $75/hour, which is ridiculous, not only because a skilled electrician has a LOT of knowledge in a challenging and important profession (probably more important than whatever they're doing in the office for $18/hour lol) but also because the electrician is making some real cash. I'm not sure why that is, but in today's society if anything involves manual labor it's pretty much looked down upon no matter what.
Myself, I'm a creative type, I sit at my computer or I do filmmaking work, so I'm not good at manual labor, but I appreciate the people who are and I think we'd have a lot more successful young people and fewer whiners if people went into the trades instead of majoring in Psychology or Business and complaining that there are no jobs above $15/hour for those vastly oversupplied degrees.
Blue collar workers are appreciated, however blue collar salaries are not.
Too many lazy Americans don't want to to work blue collar jobs, as bureaucrats have convinced them they all deserve $15+ an hour comfortable white collar ones.
Blue collar workers are appreciated, however blue collar salaries are not.
Too many lazy Americans don't want to to work blue collar jobs, as bureaucrats have convinced them they all deserve $15+ an hour comfortable white collar ones.
As much as I dislike agreeing with the above underlined statement, fact is I've met enough 20-somethings who do not want to work in a line of work which may at times be laborious, physically demanding, or a bit dangerous.
I've worked in power generation for 3+ decades. Several times, my daughters' guy friends would ask about my line of work. I could see their interest wane no sooner I mentioned shift work, 12 to 16 hour days, working holidays, the occasional power outage, etc.. The waning look would be followed by, "I'm just not cut out for that type of work."
The lack of young people's interest in Industrial Trades is becoming more and more evident, especially in my line of work. The last time we had a few Power Plant job openings, the few who applied were marginally qualified and not one was under age 50. Management had no choice but to hire a former chemist with zero power plant experience. He's been a disastrous choice whose costly mistakes have resulted in plant downtime and equipment damage.
Before retiring, I hope our "bureaucrats" will foment interest in the Industrial Trades and make provisions for the necessary Vocational Coursework.
Everyone loves a blue collar plumber when there drains or hot water heater goes out on a holiday or weekend. You need a blue collar plumber or electrician, or carpenter they make it possible for us to live in our homes.
If anything, that is the weakness. How many tradesman end up running successful businesses? What if you don't run a successful business, then what?
White collar jobs have more levels of management and different paths to move up in life.
Once upon a time.
Not everyone can be a manager. In fact, only the small minority can become management--that's just logical in any efficiently-run organization.
While once upon a time a person could have confidence in keeping a white-collar job until retirement even if never being promoted into management (and most people can never be promoted into management), that is no longer the case.
Most people from now on will find themselves looking for new jobs every decade or so, and that's going to become more and more difficult every time.
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Also, you can't be at the forefront of technology going into trade. If you want to be a part of a team that discover the next ipod or genomic editing technique, which trade certification allow you to do that?
You can be a very good carpenter in this world, but you are still just providing an existing service over and over again, not creating a new one.
I respect blue collar work a lot. In some ways, more so than a bunch of college dudes and gals who have no clue what they want to do. But for my own career, would I bet on trade? Absolutely not.
And that's fine for you.
But right now, the majority of kids will not get a college degree, and the majority of those who get a college degree won't get a degree in a financially lucrative field.
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