Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to manual or industrial work: "blue-collar" describes work that typically involves physical labor, often in manufacturing, construction, maintenance, or other industrial settings.
   • Relating to workers who perform such labor: It describes the workers themselves, who are often paid hourly wages and may not require a four-year university degree.

Usage

• The term "blue-collar" is used to classify types of jobs and the workforce, contrasting with "white-collar" (office, administrative, or professional work).
• It is typically used attributively (before a noun) to modify words like , , , .

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The factory provides many blue-collar jobs for the local community.
  • He comes from a blue-collar family where hard physical work is valued.
  • The economic shift affected blue-collar industries more than the service sector.

Advanced Usage

• "Blue-collar work ethic": A phrase praising the values of diligence, reliability, and toughness often associated with manual labor.
  • The manager admired the team's blue-collar work ethic.
• "Blue-collar crime": A term for crimes committed by individuals, often in the course of their occupation, such as theft, fraud, or vandalism, as opposed to corporate ("white-collar") crime.
  • The article discussed the social causes of blue-collar crime.

Variants and Related Words

• White-collar (adj): Relating to professional, administrative, or clerical work typically performed in an office.
  • The company is hiring for both white-collar and blue-collar positions.
• Pink-collar (adj): Historically relating to jobs traditionally held by women, such as in nursing, teaching, or secretarial work.
  • The study examined wages in pink-collar occupations.

Synonyms

• Manual: Involving physical work.
• Industrial: Relating to industry or factories.
• Working-class: Of or relating to the social group consisting of people who are employed for wages, especially in manual or industrial work.

Antonyms

• White-collar: Relating to professional or office work.
• Professional: Engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a manual worker.

Adjective

1. of those who work for wages especially manual or industrial laborers
   • party of the propertyless proletariat- G.B.Shaw
2. of or designating manual industrial work or workers