According to Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, there’s a dichotomy of how people portray work nowadays: the blue collar philosophy of “working harder”; and the urban, smartphone-wielding notion of “working smarter”. In other words, the long-standing debate pitting white collar jobs─ employment typically confined in a conventional office space─ and blue collar jobs─ manual work offered at the likes of local Perth labour hire agencies─ is still raging.
Still, it seems that society tends to favour white collar jobs in a variety of ways. According to Rowe, this is evident in the apparent reality of today’s job market; he points out a purportedly massive skills gap where millions of skilled jobs remain vacant because nobody seems to want them. He also takes note of how this situation remains even with record unemployment rates, in stark contrast to the huge numbers of unemployed college graduates.
Nevertheless, people still tend to throw misconceptions about skilled trades into the fray. For instance, there’s the age-old belief that white collar is “above” blue collar. This may be due to the fact that manual labour has been looked upon as a job for slaves since ancient times. These perceptions are simply unfair; lots of skilled labourers are also intelligent while being extremely capable and responsible.
Another misconception unfairly scrutinises the apparent “lack” of intellectual stimulation in blue collar work, and that it always involves tedious tasks. Any job in the world includes such tasks—a recent study indicated that a massive 90% of office workers waste time on non-work-related activities. Now compare a plumber’s work to an office worker’s; a plumber is always visiting new places, meeting new people, and encountering (and fixing) problems which require him to think thoroughly to find a proper solution.
Lastly, several people still don’t consider blue collar workers professionals. The Power Of Professionalism author Bill Wiersma strongly contradicts this assumption, claiming that being a professional is an equal opportunity aspiration. He also adds in his book that “Being a professional has little to do with the colour of one’s collar.”
So the next time you think such misconceptions of skilled workers hailing from trusted recruitment agencies in Perth like All Force Labour Solutions, think twice. After all, they too contribute to the smooth running of our daily lives.
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