When we were kids, most of us either wanted to be doctors, lawyers, accountants, and or bankers. We looked up to people who walk the paved streets of commercial centers wearing well-tailored suits and sporting leather brief cases. There weren’t many kids who dreamt of becoming wants to be wants to be mining workers, construction managers, crane operators, as these labourers are always greasy, dirty, and living a life of financial struggle.

Turns out, we got the world wrong. We have unfairly placed these labourers in bad light. Blue-collar workers have a repertoire of benefits the white-collared employees can only dream of. While some of us corporate slaves waste our lives away in our office cubicles, these manual workers are enjoying the day-to-day challenge of their jobs and appreciates the world as it is.

We rounded off some of these perks. So that if you feel like going for the blue-collar path is the best for you, then you don’t have to feel apologetic about it anymore.

They Pay Well

Let us eliminate this on-going stereotype first, that manual workers and labourers are living inferior financial lives compared to the office-bound ones. This is not true for most occupations anymore, as they are now taking home upwards of $70,000 and even reaching $165,000. By comparison, average white-collar salary in the country is $73,000 annually, and a chunk of that hard-earned money has to go to settling your university loans.

In blue collar jobs, you will not have that dilemma, it’s because…

The Student Loans Are Affordable

The world is continually changing. The technology we rely on today will be considered obsolete in two or three years from now. That’s why it is important to continue upskilling and training to catch up with the times, get ahead of others, and increase your salary.

This is good news since blue collar employees can attend trainings, obtain scholarships, and get certificates for affordable fees. And sometimes these may be settled by the Government completely. This way, you don’t have to go through sleepless nights worrying about your student loans since they are inexpensive.

The Job Can’t Be Outsourced

Sure, companies can have the number crunching, customer service, and administrative jobs be performed by a person from the other end of the world, but good luck doing that with the tasks of repairing the pipe lines or driving the trucks.

This is one reason why blue collar jobs never run out in the country. They just keep coming. They have to be performed personally by people who are actually in the area. Also, you won’t wake up one day finding that your job already belongs to another person from another country with more economical labour rates.

And it also helps that Australia’s industries are on a roll right now with the boom in certain sectors like construction services, food processing, gas transport, and organic farming. We are seeing a secure future here.

Trip To The Gym Not Needed

Do you know what is the most prolific killer threatening our lives these days? The office chair. Sitting for eight hours straight causes increase in body fats (which results to heart problems in the long run) weakened muscles, lung inefficiency, increased risk of incurring diabetes, digesting issues, bad posture, and even cancer. No wonder, white collar people will tend to counter this by going straight to the gym or yoga sessions after their nine-to-five grind.

Most of the manual labourers, on the other hand, do not have to do this. Their job is already physically demanding, they are already working their muscles, pumping their hearts, and exhausting their lungs while at work. These people will only sit during their lunch or their short breaks. After that, it is non-stop walking and lifting and toiling again. After their shift ends, they just rest or pursue whatever hobbies they enjoy.

And speaking of hobbies…

They Have Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is the Holy Grail of corporate life these days. A career cornucopia that we have yet to attain as employees and workers. The advancement of technologies allowed our work and off-work environments to merge into a heaping mass of constant confusion and ruined priorities. Smart phones and social media permitted us to attend to home duties while at work and check and write office emails while at home. There is no way to distinguish the two anymore.

The blue-collared workers’ line of work remains unchanged over the years. Most of them still have to perform things manually; repairing equipment, drilling on surfaces, and operating machines. They do not have to be wired constantly to computers and smart phones and work chat rooms. So once their work ends, they don’t have to worry about it anymore until the next day’s punch in.

Day to Day Accomplishments Are Visible

As a white collar employee, it is not strange to feel like just an item on the huge company spreadsheet. After all, the corporate infrastructure is so technical, cryptically embedded within annual reports, and surrounded by hunky terms like debenture stocks, yield curves, volatility, residual values, and such. It is hard to paint a picture of how your grind actually contributes to the overall progress of the company.

On the other hand, if you work on the construction, you will see as the building gets slowly completed. The metal sheet mechanic sees the piles of steel plates they have tirelessly worked on get higher and then be delivered. The locomotive repair officer can witness as the train whistles again and move on the tracks after fixing it. And the service or welfare worker can see the people he/she has helped become happy and satisfied.

Blue collar workers end their shift with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment because they have a firsthand perspective of what they have shared towards realizing a common goal. This is what drives them to look forward to the next day’s work because they know it is another opportunity to contribute again.