A Blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage. Blue-collar workers are distinguished from those in the service sector and from white-collar workers, whose jobs are not considered manual labor. White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated Worker who performs semi-professional office administrative and sales coordination tasks as opposed to

Blue-collar work may be skilled or unskilled, and may involve manufacturing, mining, building and construction trades, law enforcement, mechanical work, maintenance, repair and operations maintenance or technical installations. Manufacturing (from Latin manu factura, "making by hand" is the use of tools and labor to make things for use or sale Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body In Architecture, Construction, Engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following Any man-made In the fields of Architecture and Civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the Building or assembling of Infrastructure A mechanic is a person who uses Tools to repair things (generally machinery or works to keep things operating properly The white-collar worker, by contrast, performs non-manual labor often in an office; and the service industry worker performs labor involving customer interaction, entertainment, retail and outside sales, and the like.

Contents 1 Origin of the term 2 Education requirements 3 Blue-collar stereotypes in the United States 4 Shift of blue-collar jobs from industrialized countries to developing regions 5 References 6 See also

Origin of the term

The term blue-collar is derived from uniform dress codes of industrial workplaces. A uniform is a set of standard Clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity Clothing is an aspect of Human physical appearance, and like other aspects of human physical appearance it has social significance Industrial and manual workers wear durable clothing that can be soiled or scrapped at work. A popular element of such clothes has been, and still is, a light or navy blue work shirt. Blue is also a popular color for coveralls, and will frequently include a name tag of the company/establishment on one side, and the individual's name on the other. Distinguish from Overhaul. An overall is a type of Garment which is usually used as Protective clothing when working Often these items are bought by the company and laundered by the establishment as well.

The popularity of the color blue among persons who do manual labor is in contrast to the ubiquitous white dress shirt that, historically, has been standard attire in office environments. This obvious color-coding has been used to identify a difference in socio-economic class. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. This distinction is growing more blurred, however, with the increasing importance of skilled labor, and the growth of non-laboring, but low-paying, service sector jobs. Skill is a measure of a worker's expertise specialization wages and supervisory capacity

Blue-collar can also be used as an adjective to describe the environment of the blue-collar worker: for example, a blue-collar neighborhood, job, restaurant, bar; or, a situation describing the use of manual effort and the strength required to do so. A restaurant is a retail establishment that serves prepared Food to Customers. A bar (also called a Pub or Tavern) is a business that serves drinks especially Alcoholic beverages such as beer liquor and mixed drinks for consumption ^[1]

Education requirements

A distinctive element of blue-collar work is the lesser requirement for formal academic education which is needed to succeed in other types of work, with many blue-collar jobs requiring only a high school diploma or GED. High school is the name used in some parts of the world (in particular Scotland, North America and Australia) to describe an institution A diploma (from Greek δίπλωµα diploma, meaning "folded paper" is a Certificate or Deed issued by an educational institution General Educational Development (or GED) tests are a group of five tests which (when passed certifies that the taker has American or Canadian High ^[2] Blue-collar work typically is hourly wage-labor. A wage is a compensation workers receive in exchange for their labor. Usually, the pay for such occupation is lower than that of the white-collar worker, although higher than many entry-level service occupations. Sometimes the work conditions can be strenuous or hazardous, also known as 3Ds: Dirty, Demanding, and Dangerous. Blue collar jobs may be represented by trade unions, in which case skilled jobs may pay very well compared to white collar jobs. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming

Blue-collar stereotypes in the United States

Blue-collar workers exist in varying proportions throughout the industrial world, though some regions are especially noted for their "blue-collar" ethic. The U. S. state of Pennsylvania, particularly the cities of Pittsburgh and Allentown, is considered to epitomize the blue-collar ethic. For the song by Billy Joel, see " Allentown (song." For the neighborhood in Pittsburgh Pittsburgh's blue-collar image is driven largely by media portrayal which is based on the prevailing "hard working blue-collar" mentality that the majority of Pittsburgh residents tend to value. Both cities have sometimes been highlighted in popular culture because of their blue-collar reputations and with the steady loss of these jobs are in financial distress,^[3] but according to a 2005 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 23% of Pittsburgh's job base is made of blue collar occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS) a unit of the United States Department of Labor, is the principal fact-finding agency for the U

Shift of blue-collar jobs from industrialized countries to developing regions

With the movement of many Western nations towards a basis of service economy, the number of blue-collar jobs has steadily decreased. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments Another main reason for the decrease in blue-collar jobs in the United States is due to the information revolution. The term information revolution (sometimes called also the "information al revolution" describes current economic social and technological trends Perhaps the biggest reason is that many low-skill manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to developing nations with lower wages. Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs is resulting in a growing middle class of "blue-collar" workers in developing nations, changing these regions from an agrarian to industrial job base. At the same time, some blue-collar workers in industrialized countries , predominantly in the building and health care industries, have seen rapidly rising wages due to their requirement of specialized skills and knowledge of computer automation and electronic systems.

References

See also

• Gold-collar workers
• Pink-collar workers
• Grey-collar workers
• Green-collar workers
• Social class
• Working class

Social stratification : Social class v • d • e
Bourgeoisie	Upper class	Ruling class	Nobility	White-collar
Petite bourgeoisie	Upper middle class	Creative class	Gentry	Blue-collar
Proletariat	Middle class	Working class	Nouveau riche/Parvenu	Pink-collar
Lumpenproletariat	Lower middle class	Lower class	Old Money	Gold-collar
Peasant/Serf	Slave class	Underclass		Classlessness
Social class in the United States
Upper class	Middle class	Lower class	Income	Educational attainment

Gold-collar worker (GCW is a Neologism which has been used to describe either young low-wage workers who invest in conspicuous Luxury (often with parental support A pink-collar worker works in a job that is considered traditionally female (these traditions generally harking back to the first half of the twentieth century Grey-collar refers to the balance of employed people not classified as white- or blue collar. A green-collar worker is a worker who is employed in the environmental sectors of the economy or in the Agricultural sector Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types In Sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of Social classes Castes and strata within a Society. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy. The term ruling class refers to the Social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated Worker who performs semi-professional office administrative and sales coordination tasks as opposed to Petit-bourgeoisie (or petty bourgeois through Folk etymology) is a French term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social-classes The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the Social group constituted by higher-status members of the Middle class. The creative class is a group of people that social scientist Dr Gentry generally refers to people of high Social class, especially in the past The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types Nouveau riche ( French for "new rich" or new money, refers to a person who has acquired considerable Wealth within his or her A Parvenu is a person that is a relative newcomer to a socioeconomic class A pink-collar worker works in a job that is considered traditionally female (these traditions generally harking back to the first half of the twentieth century Lumpenproletariat (a German word meaning "raggedy proletariat" is a term first defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in In developed nations across the earth the lower middle class, is a sub-division of the greater Middle class which constitutes by far the largest socio-economic class Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types Old Money is a term that refers to the established Upper class. Gold-collar worker (GCW is a Neologism which has been used to describe either young low-wage workers who invest in conspicuous Luxury (often with parental support A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The contemporary concept of the underclass is a sanitized term for what was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the undeserving poor and may have been coined by American sociologist This article is translated from and may fit related articles there better. There is considerable controversy regarding social class in the United States, and it remains a concept with many competing definitions The American upper class describes the sociological concept pertaining to the "top layer" of society in the United States. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. The concept of a lower class in the United States is used to describe those at or near the lower end of the socio-economic hierarchy. Income in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The educational attainment of the US population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education

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