Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Are Blue-Collar Jobs Turning White?

Martina Bisello and Enrique Fernández-Macías 17th October 2018

Martina Bisello

Martina Bisello

Manual jobs in European manufacturing are being transformed as blue-collar workers take on more intellectual tasks. This is a consequence of the increasing use of digital tools and the growing importance of quality control in production. The severe losses of medium-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector during the economic crisis raised concerns about its future role and contribution to economic progress. However, not only has the recovery brought back employment growth in manufacturing, but there has also been a shift towards higher-skilled professional occupations, especially in machinery and equipment as well as motor vehicle production (up seven percent a year since 2013), as described in Eurofound’s 2017 European Jobs Monitor report.

Enrique-Fernández-Macías

Enrique-Fernández-Macías

This upgrading of employment in manufacturing is further borne out by Eurofound’s latest report on the future of manufacturing in Europe, which looks at the types of tasks performed by workers on the job. We carried out case studies into five occupations within manufacturing: car assembly-worker, meat-processing worker, chemical products machine operator, hand-packer and inspection engineer. These case studies suggest that intellectual tasks involving information processing and problem solving are becoming more common in manufacturing jobs where physical tasks predominated traditionally.

Technology and quality control

Two main factors are contributing to this trend, one purely technical and the other more institutional. First is the rising use of digitally controlled equipment in production. This not only requires that workers in manual, semi-skilled occupations have more developed ICT skills, but also increases the literacy- and numeracy-related tasks they have to perform, such as reading technical documentation or dealing with numerical information. The spread of automation and the use of advanced machinery in production is also driving up the importance of problem-solving intellectual tasks, with shop-floor workers being tasked increasingly with troubleshooting production lines and handling errors.

Among the five key occupations analysed, the work of car assemblers has been the most significantly affected by digitalisation in recent decades, both in terms of manufacturing processes (including the development of digital factories that use sensors, algorithms and robots) and customer relationships (with cars becoming more digitised and allowing users to interact with them and evaluate the information collected through specialised applications).

The second factor is the increasing use of quality control and standards in production. This is driven by regulation, consumer demand and the increasing complexity of production processes (as exemplified by global value chains). Quality standards impose a certain degree of formalisation on the production process, with the use, for instance, of benchmarking documentation, detailed planning and performance indicators. Many of these quality-control procedures are at least partly carried out by shop-floor operators, whose task set has broadened to include documenting problems, assessing numerical benchmarks, filling in forms and so on. The work of hand-packers has for instance evolved in response to consumer demand for high-quality packing and delivery, particularly in relation to product traceability. The more experienced and qualified workers have also to be able to perform complex logistical and coordination tasks too (e.g. packing and shipping products on time to many different customers).

Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content.


We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Thank you!

Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription.

.

Conversely, the importance of physical tasks is generally decreasing because of automation, although the extent of this differs depending on the comparative advantages and efficiency associated with manual versus machine task performance. Tasks that require workers to exert physical strength, in particular, are in decline, but tasks that require dexterity remain an important part of some shop-floor jobs, notably in the context of operating machinery. Among the occupations studied, meat processing workers are the clearest exception to the declining trend in physical tasks: the reason for that being that the processing of meat is difficult to automate because of its inherent variability and it remains too expensive relative to the cost of human labour.

Finally, with regards to social tasks, these are generally more important for services than for manufacturing. The occupations within this study have very little contact with customers or people outside the shop floor, and the social tasks within their jobs are restricted to cooperation with co-workers and some coaching of new or less experienced colleagues. Both meat processing workers and chemical plant operators tend to work alone, so even cooperative task content is relatively limited within these roles.

Implications for job quality

Such changes have significant implications for job quality. The decline in physical tasks, combined with more restrictive safety regulations limiting direct contact with machinery, has the benefit of reducing physical workplace risks for some manual occupations. This, together with the upgrading of work in terms of intellectual tasks, has contributed to job quality improvements in traditional manual occupations in manufacturing. However, automation technology is not spread equally across industries and is far from becoming mainstream in many jobs where human labour is still preferred, mainly due to the comparatively low costs and the still very significant technical challenges involved in their automation.

The reshaping of manufacturing occupations poses significant challenges for our societies. The skills of the workforce must keep pace with technological change, and education systems have to be modernised to meet the needs of ever-changing workplaces. Employment regulation and industrial relations systems must also evolve to maintain their effectiveness as occupations are transformed; in times of rapid economic transformation such as these, their mediating role becomes particularly important for the translation of technical change into socioeconomic progress for all.

This column is sponsored by Eurofound.
Martina Bisello and Enrique Fernández-Macías

Martina Bisello has been a Research Officer with Eurofound since April 2014. She completed an International Doctoral Program in Economics. Enrique Fernández-Macías is a Researcher in the European Commission's Joint Research Center. He holds a PhD in Economic Sociology from the University of Salamanca and his main research interests are job quality, occupational change and the division of labour.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

Home ・ Politics ・ Are Blue-Collar Jobs Turning White?

Most Popular Posts

schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling
world order,Russia,China,Europe,United States,US The coming world orderMarc Saxer
south working,remote work ‘South working’: the future of remote workAntonio Aloisi and Luisa Corazza
Russia,Putin,assets,oligarchs Seizing the assets of Russian oligarchsBranko Milanovic
Russians,support,war,Ukraine Why do Russians support the war against Ukraine?Svetlana Erpyleva

Most Recent Posts

trade,values,Russia,Ukraine,globalisation Peace and trade—a new perspectiveGustav Horn
biodiversity,COP15,China,climate COP15: negotiations must come out of the shadowsSandrine Maljean-Dubois
reproductive rights,abortion,hungary,eastern europe,united states,us,poland The uneven battlefield of reproductive rightsAndrea Pető
LNG,EIB,liquefied natural gas,European Investment Bank Ukraine is no reason to invest in gasXavier Sol
schools,Sweden,Swedish,voucher,choice Sweden’s schools: Milton Friedman’s wet dreamLisa Pelling

Other Social Europe Publications

The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020
Corporate taxation in a globalised era

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

ETUI advertisement

Bilan social / Social policy in the EU: state of play 2021 and perspectives

The new edition of the Bilan social 2021, co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), reveals that while EU social policy-making took a blow in 2020, 2021 was guided by the re-emerging social aspirations of the European Commission and the launch of several important initiatives. Against the background of Covid-19, climate change and the debate on the future of Europe, the French presidency of the Council of the EU and the von der Leyen commission must now be closely scrutinised by EU citizens and social stakeholders.


AVAILABLE HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Living and working in Europe 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a defining force in 2021, and Eurofound continued its work of examining and recording the many and diverse impacts across the EU. Living and working in Europe 2021 provides a snapshot of the changes to employment, work and living conditions in Europe. It also summarises the agency’s findings on issues such as gender equality in employment, wealth inequality and labour shortages. These will have a significant bearing on recovery from the pandemic, resilience in the face of the war in Ukraine and a successful transition to a green and digital future.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube