There are various types of professions we see around us. Though there are many so, we need to segment those to understand better. Here a common casual-language like blue-collar and white-collar is typically used to describe various professions. Don’t think that only those two colors distinguish the jobs instead. You will see pink, black also. Each color has a different meaning; for instance, a pink collar implies the popular women related profession like nurses. Thankfully, we get such a lovely language, but we hardly know those two’s definitions. Moreover, in today’s advanced world, the difference between the two-term becomes blurry. After considering that point, we discuss blue collar vs. white collar.
Hopefully, the difference will clear this idea more than discuss only the definition.
Table of Contents
Blue Collar vs. White Collar Definition
People usually use blue-collar and white-collar to classify workers of different images, different professions.
Blue Collar:
Blue-collar workers generally conduct manual labor, for instance, construction, manufacturing, mining, etc. They are peoples of the working-class. These blue-collar workers can be skillful or may lack skill. Generally, they do not go to a regular college or university to gain skills. They obtain their skills in a trade school rather than going to a university for a degree.
The name blue-collar originated back in the early 20th century. When the workers began to wore dirt-resistant fabrics like blue denim or blue uniforms, they chose those dresses because their dress always gets dirty for hard labor. And they cannot continuously afford to wash their clothes because of their downgrade payment. Upton Sinclair, a famous American writer, first used this term “Blue Collar”.
Nowadays, these dress like blue jeans, overalls, or darker colors that can hide dirt or soil. It has become a usual dress code for blue-collar workers.
White Collar:
White-collar workers are opposite to blue-collar workers. This type of worker is devoid of physical labor and works at a desk. Generally, White-collar workers are all educated and hold a degree in education. Moreover, they obtain their degree from college and universities. They can be skillful or unskilled. But most of the workers of the white-collar are skillful.
Upton Sinclair, who termed the “Blue Collar”, is partially responsible for the term “White Collar”. As their jobs are related to administrative works, they usually wear white shirts at work. For this reason, they are known as “White Collar”. They can wear a coat, but their usual dress code is a white shirt. Their pay grade is far better than the blue collars.
As you can understand, there is so much difference between these two collars. Here is some more difference between white-collar vs. blue-collar.
Job Type of Blue and White Collar
Blue Collar:
As you already know, they are the type of workers for labor. They do hard-working jobs like construction, mining, manufacturing. For this reason, they have to get their hands and dress dirty to get their job done. Common jobs are:
- Mechanic
- Electrician
- Carpenter
- Plumber
- Welder
White Collar:
These types of jobs are ‘information-based jobs’, or you can say “Desk job”. They usually work in an office, under a roof. Moreover, they do not take part in any class of physical labor. Common jobs:
- CEO
- Doctor
- Lawyer
- Engineer
- Accountant
Education Level of Blue and White Collar
Here is the difference between blue collar vs. white collar in education level:
Blue Collar:
Blue-collar workers may or may not need an educational qualification. Generally, they do not need any proper educational background. They need to show experience for a better pay grade. Some of them require a little educational background. Besides, they can obtain their skill in trade schools. But they do not need to get any higher education or fancy degrees. Moreover, they also can learn to work from their senior co-workers and upgrade their skills.
White-collar:
The educational qualification of a white-collar is the opposite of a blue-collar worker. The white-collar workers need a higher study or higher degrees to get a job. The positions for these types of workers are knowledge and information-based. So, they must need a minimum educational background. Nowadays, the minimum requirement is a bachelor’s degree to apply for a job. Even if, most of the higher positions require a higher study than a bachelor’s degree and also experience according to pay grade.
Work Environment of Blue and White Collar
Here is the difference between blue collar vs. white collar in the work environment:
Generally, blue-collar workers work in various outdoor areas. They work in homes, offices, workshops, warehouses, and others. Some of them do not settle in one place. For example, a man who does construction works cannot always stay in one place. He also takes contracts for other construction works. As well as, he needs to move to different areas. Their working environment is usually messy.
On the other hand, white-collar workers work in an indoor area. They usually work under a roof in a company or office. This type of workers always works at a desk, monitor, and a chair. Besides, their working environment is every time neat, clean, and comfortable.
Earning of Blue and White Collar
A comparable amount of salary difference is visible between a blue collar vs. white collar job.
Blue-collar workers earn much lesser than white-collar workers. Mostly, blue-collar people earn money on an hourly basis. Generally, they may not have a restriction of work because most of them do not work under any boss. So, they can earn by doing overtime or whenever they want. However, some of them work in shifts and pay as shift hour’s count.
White-collar workers get paid much better than blue-collar workers. Most of them get their payment monthly. They have a fixed amount of time for work and get one or two days off in a week. Besides, they also have a fixed salary according to their position. They get promotions to higher positions according to their performance. As well as, there is also a salary increase.
Reputation and Respect
From here, you can get the difference in reputation level between blue collar vs. white collar:
As blue-collar workers perform manual labor, they do not possess enough money to be rich. Most people do not show any respect for them. After all, they do not always wear clean cloth for their work. They neither wear a fancy tuxedo for the people to respect them. But they are the most important people in our society.
On the other hand, white-collar people receive a much higher reputation from society. Besides, people like them for various reasons like salary, fancy outfit, and others.
Health Challenges
In case of a health challenge between blue-collar vs. white-collar, the blue-collar will win.
As blue-collar workers do the hard labor, the much physically fit than the white-collar workers. Most of them do not have to do any types of physical exercise as they conduct hard labor all day long. For this reason, their health and the immune system is much stronger and easily do not attacked by any lifestyle disease.
On the other hand, the white-collar workers have to work in a chair and desk all day long. They get a little chance to get off the chair. So, their physic and health are not that strong compared to blue-collar workers. As a result, it increases the risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and others. Nowadays, many of the white-collar workers are well aware of their health. They do extra exercise to keep their body and mind healthy.
Responsibilities:
Typically, the blue-collar workers require equipment, machinery, or vehicles related skills. Sometimes they need to learn other tools and software. Notably, blue-collar workers require high experience and expertise in their field.
Nevertheless, white collars usually serve behind the desk such as managing, communicating, etc. Notably, they are considered valuable assets for a country.
Key differences between Blue Collar vs. White Collar
Blue collar jobs involve manual labor. For instance, blue-collar workers have to work in construction, industries, manufacturing, and others. Hopefully, you can easily assume they mainly need physical labor to perform their job. Here they mainly need their muscle power. Moreover, in terms of education, they don’t need it, instead, they need skill. As we already notified you, their job sector is in construction, manufacturing, etc. sites and naturally, those places usually have dirty environments. When it comes to payment, blue collar workers mostly get hourly wages.
On the other hand, white-collar jobs are professional or administrative jobs. Moreover, white collar jobs do not involve any hard physical labor instead white-collar workers usually work in an office. To perform their assigned tasks, white-collar workers must need a good education fit for the job. Notably, proper knowledge and brainpower need to perform their task. In terms of the working environment, the white-collars working environment is always neat and clean. And, they commonly get a monthly salary. Naturally, the white collars earn more respect and reputation from society rather than the blue collars.
FAQ
- Who makes more money blue-collar or white-collar?
White-collar earns much money than blue-collar. Blue collars are working-class people in our society. They work in construction, welding, plumbing, and other these types of jobs. Generally, blue collars earn their wages on an hourly basis. But they cannot make that much money. Most of them live from hand to mouth. Comparatively, some of the blue collar’s earnings are much better than the regular ones. They can also make extra money by doing extra shift work.
On the other hand, white collars make much better money than blue collars. Besides, they usually work in an office and have a fixed pay grade according to their positions. White collars can get promotions according to their performance. Furthermore, the salary also increases with the promotion.
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What is a brown collar job?
Military personnel job is known as brown collar job. For example, Military personnel jobs are Air Force Pilot, Marine Corps Military Police, Coast Guard, Navy Flight Support, and others. It is the people who serve as a soldier in a country. Thus their payment, obligations, and role vary according to their rank, military branch, and others.
- What does a pink collar mean?
People who serve in the service industry are known as a pink collar. In brief, the pink collar originated in the late 1970s. Surprisingly, the phrase meant for the types of jobs that are conducted by women. But now, it describes all service jobs. Distribution, transport, and selling goods to the consumer are the services that it involves. Generally, pink-collar jobs point at the salesperson, waiters, retail clerks, pest control, and others.
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Is Teacher a White Collar?
Teachers are part of white-collar workers. Teachers use minds or brains while teaching. Besides, they do not do any physical work compares to blue collars. Most of the teachers wear white clothes. They work under a boss and in an office. They get their salary every month. Also, teachers have a positional pay grade. So, considering these options, the teacher is white-collar.
- Is the doctor a white-collar?
Yes, a doctor is a white-collar. We all know that doctors diagnose and treat their patients. Indeed, they use and apply their knowledge to treat patients. And that does not involve any physical work. Besides, they mostly work in a hospital or a private clinic. For this reason, you can say a doctor is a white-collar.
Conclusion
When you look at these two words you can see a big difference. The major difference lies in qualification, working environment and style, and so on. Though all of us have to enter into the job market now or in the future, we need to gain a clear idea of it. If you are new at this word hopefully, we can clear you the idea on blue collar vs. white collar. Though there are lots of jobs, thankfully this segmentation helps us to easily distinguish any type of job.
