Would you consider taking a blue-collar job that promised better pay and stability than your current role?<\/p>\n
In a recent FlexJobs report, the majority of respondents said yes.<\/p>\n
In the remote jobs site’s Work Shift Pulse Report<\/a>, which polled more than 3,000 professionals in August, 62% said they’d consider such a move.<\/p>\n “The job market feels tight and challenging right now,” Toni Frana, career expert manager at FlexJobs, tells CNBC Make It. Workers are considering “how can I set myself up for future success in terms of maintaining a job, having a stable income, being able to have opportunity for growth.”<\/p>\n On top of that, talk of AI threatening white-collar jobs<\/a> is brewing. “People are thinking about, how is AI going to impact my current job and also what are jobs that might not be impacted as much from AI disruption,” Frana adds.<\/p>\n Against this backdrop, blue-collar work “is an option” some people might be considering, she says.<\/p>\n A 2024 report<\/a> from the Brookings Institute found that “unlike previous automation technologies that primarily affected routine, blue collar work, generative AI is likely to disrupt a different array of ‘cognitive’ and nonroutine’ tasks, especially in middle- to higher-paid professions.”<\/p>\n A 2023 Pew Research Center\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0found that “it is likely that higher-paying, white-collar jobs will see a fair amount of exposure to the technology.” The study defined jobs as more exposed if AI can “either perform their most important activities entirely or help with them.” Budget analysts, data entry keyers, tax preparers, technical writers and web developers are examples of such jobs, it found.<\/p>\n Experts have said blue-collar jobs appear better shielded from the effects of AI disruption in the workplace<\/a>.<\/p>\n Overall, 19% of American workers in 2022 were in jobs that are the “most exposed to AI,” whereby their most important activities may be replaced or assisted by AI, Pew found.<\/p>\n A shortage of skilled tradespeople<\/a>, as more workers age out of the trades than enter it, has led to booming demand for blue-collar workers, which has meant more job security and pay in many cases. Among Gen Z, some are foregoing college<\/a>, and its skyrocketing costs, in favor of blue-collar jobs.<\/p>\n For those thinking about making a transition into blue-collar work, FlexJobs advises highlighting transferrable skills like project management and evaluating training pathways like apprenticeships and trade schools, as well as certification requirements.<\/p>\n Want to earn more and grow your money?<\/strong>\u00a0Save 30% with\u00a0this earnings-boosting bundle<\/a>\u00a0of our top courses.<\/p>\n Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter<\/a> to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn<\/a> to connect with experts and peers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Would you consider taking a blue-collar job that promised better pay and stability than your current role? In…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,420,67,132,68,141971],"class_list":{"0":"post-292550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wages-and-salaries"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115351192657173925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}