white-collar

[hwahyt-kol-er, wahyt-]

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the ranks of office and professional workers whose jobs generally do not involve manual labor or the wearing of a uniform or work clothes.

noun

1. a white-collar worker.

white-collar

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating nonmanual and usually salaried workers employed in professional and clerical occupations Compare blue-collar pink-collar

   white-collar union

white-collar

1. A descriptive term for office workers, who use a minimum of physical exertion, as opposed to blue-collar laborers. Managerial, clerical, and sales jobs are common white-collar occupations.

Word History and Origins

Origin of white-collar¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

First, a new class of workers was emerging: the white-collar manager.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

American employers are shedding tens of thousands of white-collar jobs as they further embrace AI.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

WSJ: Recently, Amazon joined other large employers like Target and UPS in announcing layoffs of white-collar workers—not entirely, but definitely in part, because of AI.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Large employers have been making deep cuts to white-collar jobs, with many executives preaching a leaner approach to their businesses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Amazon last week announced that it would cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs as part of its plan to eliminate 10% of its white-collar workforce.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• clerical 
• salaried