Gold-collar worker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Gold-collar worker (GCW) is not used as often as its blue-collar and white-collar counterparts. It describes a person who has attended vocational school, community college or other post-high school education, but didn't graduate or has a high school diploma or less, 18 to 25 years old and is employed either full time or part time. They may have odd jobs such as a waiter or waitress at a restaurant or a bar, a sales clerk at a department store or a specialized apparel store at a shopping mall, cleaning houses or hotel rooms, a barista at a coffeehouse chain like Starbucks or Seattle's Best Coffee, or as a worker (or even a supervisor) at a fast food restaurant like Hungry Jacks, Burger King, or Taco Bell. (These are jobs that college students might take in order to pay for tuition, apartment rent, or just simply for spending money while they attend college, vocational school, beauty school, or graduate school.) This group tends to have more disposable income than college students, who pay high tuitions and manage student loans and other debt. A lack of financial obligations such as student loans and children leaves young people in this situation with a high enough level of discretionary income that they can enjoy a more affluent lifestyle than their counterparts who attend college full-time. The main problem gold-collar workers face is the short-lived nature of their financial security. More often than not, these people will eventually marry and have children, and encounter mortgages, health insurance and the other financial responsibilities raising a family entails. By this point, in their late 20s to early 30s with partial or no higher education, their job prospects are narrow.
Origin of the termIt has been reported that the term 'Gold-Collar worker' was first used by Robert E Kelley in his 1985 book The Gold-Collar Worker: Harnessing the Brainpower of the New Work Force. Here he discussed a new generation of workers who use American business' most important resource, brainpower. A quote from the book summary states, "They are a new breed of workers, and they demand a new kind of management. Intelligent, independent, and innovative, these employees are incredibly valuable. They are lawyers and computer programmers, stock analysts and community planners, editors and engineers. They are as distinct from their less skilled white-collar counterparts - - bank tellers, bookkeepers, clerks, and other business functionaries - - as they are from blue-collar laborers. And they account for over 40 percent of America's workforce."[1] The color gold applies to these workers because they are highly skilled.[2] When Kelley's book was published in 1985, these were typically understood as being young, college-educated, and specialized. Recently, typical Gold-collar workers are commonly Black or Hispanic who have some type of post-high school education (university, community college, vocational school, etc.) but did not graduate. While they may save money for future plans, their jobs have degraded into the likes of fast-food, retail, security, office work, or hairdressing while still attending school. [3] Influence in the MediaSeveral movies and TV shows have displayed examples of Gold-Collar lifestyles. The 1987 movie Can't Buy Me Love has a young teen who works and attends school at the same time, allowing him to spend his money freely. In Failure to Launch an adult still lives with his parents while having a boat business. In Stomp the Yard the main character maintains a job while still going to school. These are a few example of the influence Gold-Collar workers has had on the media. The story of climbing your way to the top is a popular tale in Hollywood which is why these workers are represented many times. See also
References
|
