White Collar: Definition, Types of Jobs, and Other "Collar" Types

What Is White Collar?

A white-collar worker belongs to a class of employees known for earning higher average salaries doing highly skilled work, but not by performing manual labor at their jobs. White-collar workers historically have been the "shirt and tie" set, defined by office jobs and management, and not "getting their hands dirty."

This class of workers stands in contrast to blue-collar workers, who traditionally wore blue shirts and worked in plants, mills, and factories.

Understanding White Collar

White-collar workers are suit-and-tie workers who work at a desk and, stereotypically, eschew physical labor. They tend to make more money than blue-collar workers. White-collar work used to mean a high level of education and the assumption of securing a cushy job with perks. That distinction today is blurred by the fact that white-collar employment has become the dominant working class in the U.S. and other advanced nations.

American writer Upton Sinclair is partially responsible for the modern understanding of the term "white collar," having used the phrase in conjunction with administrative work. The differences in connotation between white collar and blue collar have much more to say about the way we perceive the service industry in comparison to manufacturing and agriculture.

Typical white-collar jobs include company management, lawyers, accountants, financial and insurance jobs, consultants, and computer programmers, among many others.

There are white-collar workers' unions, though, historically, union membership has been a distinction of blue-collar workers.

Expectations of White-Collar Jobs

White-collar positions are often expected to offer opportunities to advance to more significant roles as managers or executives. A white-collar role is likewise expected to generate higher paying salaries with the potential to continue to rapidly scale up their income with further advancement.

These jobs typically are based in an office; however, some industries may still require a presence in the field. This is especially true for professionals who regularly meet with clients and customers, or travel to conferences and meetings.

Attorneys, accountants, architects, bankers, real estate agents, business consultants, and brokers are often described as white-collar positions. Though the actual work performed typically is not menial, white-collar roles can require the professional to commit to extensive hours during the workweek, as well as on weekends.

White-collar professionals may be expected to be on call even during vacation times and outside of normal business hours. At senior levels, they may be part of a firm's upper management and hierarchy.

White-collar workers are often expected to develop specialized skills over time, making them increasingly valuable intellectual assets for the growth of the company. For example, an accountant may have to keep abreast of all regulatory changes that could affect how their clients or company reports income.

An attorney will need to keep themselves apprised of recent rulings and changes in case law that affect their area of expertise. Real estate agents will need to keep track of fluctuations in real estate prices and the underlying influences that drive such trends.

Other "Collars"

White collar is often contrasted with blue-collar jobs. Blue-collar jobs are typically classified as involving manual labor and compensation by an hourly wage. Some fields that fall into this category include construction, manufacturing, maintenance, and mining.

Those who have this sort of job are characterized as members of the working class. The blue-collar worker is often perceived as lower-status than a white-collar worker who might work behind a desk in the service industry, while the blue-collar worker gets their hands dirty doing manual labor or manufacturing.

Other types of colored collar categories of workers are used less often. These include pink collar, green collar, gold collar, and gray collar. Unlike white and blue collars, the other categories are not derived from the workers traditionally wearing any particular color of shirts.

Green-collar workers refer to employees in the conservation and sustainability sectors. Pink collars are employees who work in service fields: store salespeople, waiters, secretaries, receptionists, or elementary school teachers (the word "pink" referring to the fact that women have traditionally held these posts).

Gold collars are found in specialized fields of law and medicine; a reference, perhaps, to the high salaries these professions command. Gray collars refer to those, like engineers, who are officially white-collar but perform blue-collar tasks regularly as part of their jobs.

The Bottom Line

While "White-collar" jobs are still generally professional jobs that most often require college degrees, these jobs' association with higher pay and lower stress are less prominent than they were in the past, largely because of the technology sector. There is a correlation between white-collar jobs and higher pay, but the gap in pay between professional and labor jobs is not what it once was.