This Labor Day, experts say California’s job market is going through a dramatic shift. They’re calling it a “white-collar crack-up.”<\/p>\n
For the first time in state history, white-collar jobs are shrinking, while blue-collar positions are on the rise. Construction, manufacturing, and other hands-on service jobs are expanding, many offering more openings and better pay. At the same time, employment in finance, tech, and other professional sectors is seeing cuts.<\/p>\n
Michael Bernick, former director of California’s Employment Development Department and now with Duane Morris LLP, says the slowdown in white-collar hiring has several causes.<\/p>\n
“Employers aren’t letting go of workers in large numbers, but neither are they hiring,” Bernick explained. “There’s a much greater caution, especially among white-collar employers.”<\/p>\n
Among the factors fueling this shift: the rise of artificial intelligence, over-hiring during the pandemic, and tightening budgets at the federal, state, and local levels.<\/p>\n
The competition for white-collar positions has intensified. According to Bernick, “At least half of college graduates are working jobs that don’t require college degrees.”<\/p>\n
The numbers reflect the pressure. The national unemployment rate is currently 4.2 percent, but California’s rose to 5.5 percent in July.<\/p>\n
Still, there is good news in the growth of blue-collar industries. “The positive news is our blue-collar economy is coming back,” Bernick said. “There’s opportunities in construction, in manufacturing, in forest management.”<\/p>\n
Healthcare and social services are also expanding due to increased demand. But Bernick notes that wages in some of these sectors still need to catch up.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, we’ll overcome the prejudice that white-collar jobs are somehow more prestigious than blue-collar jobs, when in fact, in terms of value, it’s probably the opposite.”<\/p>\n
For those struggling in the white-collar market, Bernick offers reassurance: if you’ve been searching for 10 months or longer without success, you’re not alone. Often, he says, rejection reflects broader economic realities, not a person’s abilities.<\/p>\n
\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Labor Day, experts say California’s job market is going through a dramatic shift. They’re calling it a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[84,776,1371,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-109102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-jobs","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}