White-collar is a term that refers to workers who are employed in an office and who do not generally do manual labor. It comes from the idea that people in these positions traditionally wore a white-collar, and presumably a tie, to their jobs. It contrasts with the term blue-collar, which refers to a laborer or craftsman. White-collar is normally taken to mean work of relatively high prestige and high pay. White-collar workers tend to be university educated. Examples of white-collar jobs would include the managerial, sales, clerical or legal professions. One common use of the term 'white-collar' is in regards to crime. White-collar crimes tend to be non-violent crimes committed by white-collar workers, such as fraud, embezzlement or stock manipulation. |
