White-collar workers perform tasks which are less "laborious" yet often more highly paid than blue-collar workers, who do manual work. They are salaried professionals (such as some doctors or lawyers), as well as employees in administrative or clerical positions. In some studies, managers are considered as part of the white-collar worker grouping, in others they are not. The name derives from the traditional white, button down shirts worn by workers of such professions. The white shirts are easily soiled and therefore distinguish the workers who "do not get their hands dirty." A blue-collar worker is a working class employee who performs manual or technical labor, such as in a factory or in technical maintenance trades, in contrast to a white-collar worker, who does non-manual work generally at a desk. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A shirt is a sort of top, i. ...

Formerly a minority in the agrarian and early industrial societies, they have become a majority in industrialized countries. The recent technological revolution has created disproportionately more desk jobs, and lessened the number of employees doing manual work in factories. Generally, the pay rate is higher among white-collar workers, although many of the "white-collar" workers are not necessarily upper class or of privilege as the term once implied. For example, many jobs in the ever growing service sector have a high dress code despite their low pay, whereas ironically, many skilled manual trades-people earn comfortable middle-class salaries, although the jobs may be increasingly scarce. Agrarian has two meanings: It can mean pertaining to Agriculture It can also refer to the ideology of Agrarianism and Agrarian parties. ... Look up Revolution in Wiktionary, the free dictionary This article is about revolution in the sense of a drastic change. ... Typical rolltop desk A desk is a furniture form and a class of table. ... A factory (previously manufactory) is a large industrial building where goods or products are manufactured. ... The tertiary sector of industry, also called the service sector or the service industry, is one of the three main industrial categories of a developed economy, the others being the secondary industry (manufacturing and primary goods production such as agriculture), and primary industry (extraction such as mining and fishing). ... The middle class refers to people neither at the top nor bottom of a social hierarchy. ...

Also, an increasing number of companies do not have any blue collar workers since they do not physically manufacture anything, but instead have an entire hierarchy of white collar desk workers who mostly dress the same. In this type of corporate environment, the ranking is less signified by the clothing, but may be strikingly apparent by the quality of the work space, the responsibilities delegated, the privileges granted, and by the salary itself. A blue-collar worker is a working class employee who performs manual or technical labor, such as in a factory or in technical maintenance trades, in contrast to a white-collar worker, who does non-manual work generally at a desk. ...

As an example of workspace contrast, the higher ranking executives may have large corner offices with impressive views and expensive furnishings, where the lesser ranked desk clerks may share small, windowless cubicles with plain utilitarian furniture. As an example of the differing responsibilities, the higher ranked worker will usually have a more broad and fundamental responsibility in the company whereas the subordinates will be delegated more specific, and limited tasks. The cases of differing privilege and salary speak for themselves.

At some companies, the "white collar employees" also on occasion perform "blue collar" tasks (or vice versa), and even change their clothing to perform the distinctive roles, ie. dressing up or dressing down as the case requires.

As salaried employees, white-collar workers are sometimes members of white-collar labor unions and they can resort to strike action to settle grievances with their employers, when collective bargaining fails. A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... Open battle between striking teamsters armed with pipes and the police in the streets of Minneapolis, 1934. ... Collective bargaining is the process of negotiation between trade unions (or labor unions, as they are called in the USA) and employers (represented by management) in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees, such as wages, hours, working conditions and grievance procedures, and about the rights and...

See also

• aristocracy
• high culture
• pink collar
• upper class
• white-collar crime
• salaryman