When I was reading Nicholas Carroll's
guide to
downgrading your resume, he mentioned a term I wasn't familiar with: gray collar. Apparently, gray collar jobs straddle the gap between their white and blue counterparts, combining aspects of manual labor and skilled trade. Gray collar careers are often very essential to businesses, providing secure jobs with decent salaries, which usually only require a bachelor's or associate degree. Yahoo! has a
list of six booming gray-collar professions, bolstered by data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
- Home/Health Care Aides: This the is highest-growing gray-collar profession by BLS standards, which forecasts a 50 percent increase in available jobs between 2006 and 2016, as more of the population becomes older and reliant on treatment in homes and hospitals. The earnings here aren't as high as some of the other jobs, averaging $20,000 in 2007, but it is a stable profession, which you can train for with an online associate degree.
- Technical Support: IT jobs topped the BLS's numbers for earning and stability among jobs necessitating an associate degree. There's a large need for tech support—it's almost impossible to think of a company or business that doesn't rely on computers in some capacity. The BLS expects IT jobs to climb by 13 percent, with salaries maxing out at $80,000.
- Police Officer: Cop jobs typically requite an associate degree in criminal justice, and the BLS foresees an 11 percent rise in officer hiring by 2016, in local, state, and federal bureaus. Officers with the highest salaries earned $75,000 a year in 2007.
- Auto Technician: The BLS expects auto tech jobs to grow by 14 percent between 2006 and 2016, and the highest wages in 2007 were around $57,500. Tech and trade schools can offer the necessary training.
- Veterinary Technician: Vet techs can get by with an associate degree or a four-year degree from a technical college. The BLS sees a 41 percent jump in these jobs by 2016, with the highest wages averaging around $40,000 in 2007.
- Sales Supervisor: You can buff up your skills with online classes in retail, marketing, sales, or management, which will make you all the more qualified if you're already in the retail industry. The highest-earning supervisors brought home over $60,000 in 2007.
Have you heard of gray-collar jobs before? Do they seem like a stable choice for this recession?
Comments (3)
IT is pretty easy for the computer savvy. You can learn a lot on the job. If you learn enough and become manager or DBA you can make a good amount of money.
I didn't know there was a term for it. Interesting.
interesting... I did not know there was a name for this either.