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Yes. Trades are considered blue collar even when the worker is highly skilled. Office workers are considered white collar, and a new term, green collar, refers to those employed in either office or trades in an ecological endeavor.
White collar workers were more likely to be longer term employees with seniority and accrued benefits vs. hourly/labor employees receiving no such vacation from the union hall.
Blue collar work.
Edwin Sutherland in 1939
Professor Edwin Hardin Sutherland
The term "white collar" refers to office workers and professionals who typically wear dress shirts and ties, often white in color, as part of their work attire. Coined by sociologist Edwin Sutherland in the 1930s, it contrasts with "blue collar," which describes manual laborers who often wear blue uniforms or work shirts. The distinction highlights the differences in job types, working environments, and social classes, emphasizing the rise of service and administrative occupations in the economy.
(They could stop working when the boss went home). White-collar jobs are more typically office jobs, so they usually end at five pm. Blue-collar, service-oriented jobs can be done whenever necessary, so they don't have as much flexibility.
"Blue collar" is one, 'professiona'l or 'trades worker' are a couple of others.
It described the clothes middle class workers wore.
The term "white-collar crime" was coined by sociologist Edwin Sutherland at a speech to the American Sociological Association in 1939. He defined it as non-violent crimes committed by individuals or corporations in positions of trust or authority for financial gain.
I think you are referring to "white collar crime" but it has nothing whatsoever to do with their social status. A low-level clerk or accountant in a business can commit white collar crime just as easy as the CEO.
White collar crimes