The Pink-Collar Job Boom
Millions of jobs were lost during the Great Recession, but most of the job losses were concentrated in blue-collar industries like manufacturing.
And while the recession has technically ended, many of these laid-off workers still have not been able to find work. Their skill set is not a good fit for the kinds of jobs available today, or the jobs that will be created in the future. The manufacturing labor market, which supported a vibrant middle class since the end of World War II, is never coming back.
This shift is forcing people to change the way they work. It also disproportionately affects men, who dominated the blue-collar work force. To remain a part of the workforce, many are shifting to what some have called “pink collar” jobs.
The pink-collar term was coined during the Second World War, when women occupied jobs as secretaries, typists, and transcribers. But as the U.S. economy evolved, these jobs became defined as those that were traditionally dominated by women. They include nurses, doctor’s aides, dental assistants, and teachers.
According to a recent New York Times report, this decade, nearly one-third of job-seeking males will fill positions in industries where 70 percent of the workforce has been female. The trend is taking place across all education and income levels. In other words, it’s not just lower-income people with few choices that are making the shift.