Want a six-figure salary? Try Walmart.
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The Lede
Blue-collar work — officially defined as jobs that handle or move material goods, and colloquially thought of as jobs that don't require sitting in front of a screen — has once again assumed a competitive position within the American labor market. demand is high, opportunities abound, and companies like Walmart and UPS offer six-figure salaries and lucrative benefits. In White-Collar World, meanwhile, remote work is a career trap, layoffs loom, and AI robots circle like vultures.
Key details
- Millennials and younger workers have wrestled with a snowballing amount of student-loan debt for degrees that didn't seem worth the price tag.
- As blue-collar companies struggled to staff up, they turned toward raising wages. Then came the pandemic — and a radical shift in how many Americans viewed work.
- Now, the economy is adding blue-collar jobs at a rapid clip. Since April 2020, industries like construction, manufacturing, and warehousing have added 4.5 million jobs.
