It's literally been decades since it was harder to find blue-collar workers than white-collar workers, but that's the current state of affairs in this tight job market.

A new analysis by The Conference Board predicts that growing blue-collar labor shortages will continue in 2019 and even after. In addition, companies can expect growing shortages in sectors that include transportation, health care support, manufacturing, agriculture, mining and construction.

The news could be good for workers, though, since the report also says that in addition to increasing wages, companies may have to expand their pools of potential workers.

According to the report, growing shortages of blue-collar workers are the result of “converging demographic, educational, and economic trends in the U.S. economy,” with the rise of workers with a bachelor's degree has increased due to more education of the U.S. population overall. At the same time, the number of workers lacking a degree has shrunk. In addition, boomers are retiring in increasingly large numbers, and they once formed a sizable segment of the blue-collar workforce.

Disability, too, has taken a toll, with many non-graduates departing the workforce because of the impact that blue-collar work can have on the body. But that doesn't mean that demand for blue-collar workers has lessened—in fact, since the 2008 financial crisis, it has only grown, since the services they provide are no less necessary.

Tight labor markets, says the report, are especially visible in three blue-collar and low-pay service sectors:

Transportation, which is experiencing a boom thanks to online shopping and the demand for deliveries.
Production/manufacturing, due to less productivity growth from automation and less offshoring of jobs between 2010–2018.
Health care support, a burgeoning field thanks in part to aging and retiring boomers who need the help of such workers as home health aides and nursing aides.

The report suggests that employers will have to explore further ways to automate—such as in food preparation, cleaning/maintenance and manufacturing—to help reduce the toll the labor shortage will otherwise take. In addition, they should consider cutting education requirements for some positions and providing internal training, as well as possibly shifting locations to areas in which more blue-collar labor is available.

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Instant Insights /

Blue-collar workers now harder to find than white-collar

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