The U.S. labor market is shifting toward skilled labor as white-collar hiring slows (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 5 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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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.

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[-] stembolts@programming.dev 29 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Because white collar workers don't think they need to unionize, as their buying power erodes. An engineer today makes, inflation adjusted, drastically less than an engineer in previous generations. Many of my friends grandparents were engineers and were happily retiring at 40 years old. How often do you see that today?

This trend will not slow. Engineers will work for McDonalds wages and not unionize because "I'm an engineer, I don't need to do that!"

We shouldn't let perceived self-importance get weaponized against our own best-interests, but we do.

(Apply same analogy to other educated fields, it's all the same bull, diff titles diff jargon. Same getting fucked.)

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago

There needs to be an analyst union. That title gets jerked around worse than most.

[-] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 25 points 5 months ago

Oh, cool, looks like I left blue collar and got a college degree just in the nick of time.

[-] card797@champserver.net 6 points 5 months ago

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.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Software can’t replace blue collar workers without expensive robotics. As AI improves, this will only get worse.

[-] bhmnscmm@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

All the practical to automate physical/blue collar jobs have already been automated. Anyone who's job doesn't require interacting with the physical world is who's at risk for automation/AI nowadays.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

They’ll keep creeping in as long as people support the business model.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/18/24130997/kernel-ai-robot-vegan-burgers-potatoes

[-] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Sweaty blue collar labor requires vastly more skill than any white collar job.

[-] goodthanks@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

I don't think you can generalise white collar jobs that way. I've done both, and writing software all day takes way more out of me than when I did manual labour. But some white collar jobs don't require much effort at all. I wish it was easier to balance using your brain and your body for work.

[-] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

I’ll agree with that, really what I meant to get it is that there’s no such thing as unskilled labor and folks belittle specifically blue collar labor often. Divisive of me, so I do apologize.

[-] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

and folks belittle specifically blue collar labor often

This is a misconception. I hardly ever hear white collar workers belittle blue collar. Unless they're rich which becomes more of a class thing. On the contrary I can't count how many times I hear blue collar complaining about how useless white collar workers are.

[-] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I don’t mean white collar folks, I just mean in general it’s looked at as ‘lesser than’ by many. It’s a divisive rhetoric, in either direction, hence my apology for continuing it - no labor is useless and it’s all underpaid

[-] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago

I wonder if its cause openai made white colar jobs worth 30$ a day

this post was submitted on 03 May 2024

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