Word of the Day: New Collar
College degree not necessary.
[ noo-kol-er, nyoo ]
adjective
: pertaining to or designating middle-class wage earners holding jobs in a service industry.
As the labor market reorders, more Americans are making the leap from blue-collar jobs and hourly work to “new collar” roles that often involve tech skills and come with better pay and schedules. | Vanessa Fuhrmans, Kathryn Dill, Blue-Collar Workers Make the Leap to Tech Jobs, No College Degree Necessary
Step aside, blue collar. And white collar, pink collar and green collar.
There’s a new collar in town.
“New collar” jobs are those that require advanced skills but not necessarily advanced degrees, especially in emerging high-tech fields like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, electric vehicles and robotics.
There are real fears that workers will lose jobs to technology, especially artificial intelligence, in the coming years. But “new collar” optimists (including those at companies looking to hire) frame things in a more positive light: There are also real opportunities ahead for skilled workers who know how to handle machines.
“Somebody has to program, monitor and maintain those robots,” said Sarah Boisvert, the founder of the New Collar Network, a national work force training program based in New Mexico. | Lora Kelley