Blue-collar jobs are gaining popularity as AI threatens office work
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/16/blue-collar-jobs-are-gaining-popularity-as-ai-threatens-office-work.html
Blue-collar jobs are gaining popularity as AI threatens office work
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/16/blue-collar-jobs-are-gaining-popularity-as-ai-threatens-office-work.html
19 Comments
> The online platform Resume Builder last month released a survey of more than 1,400 Generation Z adults to understand how economic pressures, rising education costs and concerns about AI were shaping their career paths.
> Among the key findings were that 42% of those polled, many of them college graduates, were already working in or pursuing a blue-collar or skilled trade job. Their top motivations included avoiding student debt and reducing the risk of being replaced by AI.
A wise move I suppose given that robots are still some time away from replacing humans.
Blue collar jobs are paid good because nobody wanted them. When there will be popular again salaries will decrease again. And who is going to pay those people if nobody working office jobs can afford things
I guess all that talk about studying hard to get a good job was just nonsense. Thank you capitalism
Something to consider is that in most cases (I know there are exceptions and I can contribute my own anecdotes too), blue collar jobs are more of a 1 / 0 outcome than knowledge work historically has been.
You install the HVAC system correctly, or you don’t. You fix the plumbing, or you don’t. There’s also a finite amount of work to go around. I think the wages in this labor market are more prone to supply/demand as a result. The average plumber may not be charging the same rate if 10 new ones arrive in their town.
Regardless, not jealous of the high school grads that have to try and predict where the economic puck will be in 4 years. It’s probably harder now than it’s ever been.
This is just going to lead to a retread of “learn to code”, where everyone flocks to the trades, leading to a huge oversupply and glut, resulting in the loss of most of the perks that made it appealing in the first place.
Whatever you’re going to do…W2 work is history. Employer paid benefits are history. Learn how to run your business and do it right.
Get ready for more low wages for blue collar workers as jobs become competitive in those fields.
Unfortunately, AI + robotics will threaten blue collar jobs in a few years if current trends continue.
FYI: It may be worth considering how you’re going to protest if the whole robot military and robot police force is possible to control as just one or a few rulers.
Good. We desperately need plumbers, electricians, and especially HVAC.
The real trick will be finding the right blue collar worker for the job you need done.
An apprentice plumber, electrician, or welder can be used for some jobs, and a master at their craft for other jobs. You pay more for the person who has been doing the work for a decade or more and knows their craft.
Wasn’t automation meant to well, minimize the amount of blue collar work?
It’s so dystopian that big tech is killing cushy office jobs rather than dangerous physical jobs.
This is a genuinely good thing anyway. Once you get away from office non-jobs there is no such thing as unskilled labour.
This isn’t just about jobs and economics, it’s about community and quality of life. If you know how to repair and maintain things in your home, this is a good thing. If you can use these skills to help your neighbours, again, it’s a good thing. If you can teach other people, if you know how to make things. If you know the fundamental principles of construction, of plumbing, of being an electrician, you will be a much more useful and productive member of society. This isn’t a bad thing, and it is natural counterbalance to the wilful sabotage brought against the American education system.
I guess what I’m saying is that being a blue collar worker is good. It’s not a downgrade, it’s just different.
in before; general purpose modular robotics and automation engineers….
Really hoping the competition in the Blue Collar field doesn’t hurt my side hustle. It’s hard work so I feel less nervous, but it’s hard enough that I worry about it not being worth it any longer
Even blue collar jobs are being automated. 3D house printers exist and they’re also getting better. Just look at this: https://youtu.be/qG7KMjV8zMk
There’s no escaping automation in any profession.
Rightfully so. If I could go back in time, I’d parlay a basic business degree into trades, gain experience, and buy companies
i remember back a while ago people were telling these people to learn to code to get a high paying job.
Ohhh how the table have turn
I have to stress how little this makes sense. It’s like saying automation is causing agriculture to gain popularity.
Service sectors grew to absorb labor losses from industrialization (once demand for goods was outpaced by growth in efficiency). You cannot recreate a mass blue collar employment. Even China has lost 10s of millions of blue collar jobs. Technological improvements continue to shrink blue collar labor by diverse means. The trend will only continue.
It’s also potentially genocidal. The last similar movement in the early 1900s involved the mass murder of the whole of Eastern Europe as a prior.
EDIT: I remember looking up when this first became hot through the podcast bro circuit various numbers. I think at the time between 3-4 million Americans were employed in programming. It was as much as several trades COMBINED. I think welders alone were roughly 400k. Again, illogical.