Tech companies have increasingly embraced artificial intelligence and its ability to automate even more processes, causing massive rounds of layoffs and a slower hiring market overall. Amidst all this downsizing, white-collar work is taking a major hit, leaving recent college graduates scrambling for jobs that may not exist for much longer. Now, some professionals are pivoting to a different type of work that has been written off for decades: blue-collar work.
AI’s Impact on Blue-Collar Work
AI can now perform tasks typically associated with entry-level white-collar jobs, but AI-powered robots still lack the mobility and fine motor skills to do more complex physical tasks. As a result, college graduates and younger professionals are pivoting to blue-collar jobs as entry-level tech positions get automated.
As recently as the 2010s, earning a college degree in a STEM discipline was seen as the key to securing a stable career. But AI has turned this wisdom on its head, forcing younger professionals into service jobs when entry-level tech roles remain in short supply. Meanwhile, skilled trades have risen in the eyes of many aspiring workers, offering a viable alternative to the office work that’s suddenly hard to find.
Why Is the Tech Job Market So Rough Right Now?
Put simply, companies aren’t hiring inexperienced workers as much as they used to. A 2025 SignalFire report found that new graduates make up only 7 percent of hires at big tech companies, with the number of new hires plummeting more than 50 percent below pre-pandemic levels. While President Trump’s tariffs have encouraged employers to be more cautious about hiring, AI’s impact promises to be longer-lasting: As many as 40 percent of employers plan to use AI-based automation to trim their headcounts, according to a World Economic Forum report.
Work that used to require entire teams of junior-level employees can now be done by AI or an experienced employee managing a set of AI tools. When you can achieve this kind of efficiency, hiring younger professionals just doesn’t make sense anymore.
“The tolerance for younger people to make mistakes and learn from experience is getting really low from the employer’s perspective,” Nikki Sun, a research and program manager for the AI Governance Initiative at the University of Oxford, told Built In. “If they’re used to AI making very accurate decisions and very accurate summaries, then why do you need to spend your time and energy to teach a young graduate to do this kind of job?”
A Microsoft study suggests that this automation is coming for various white-collar positions, including the following:
- Customer Service Representatives: Chatbots can handle basic customer inquiries, and advances in conversational AI will expand their use cases.
- Sales Representatives: AI can produce prospect emails and marketing videos, and it can evaluate documents and conversations to get a better sense of customer needs.
- Writers: AI generators can write musical lyrics, marketing content, academic essays and more, putting content writers, copywriters, musicians and other types of writers at risk.
- Junior Developers: AI coding tools can perform a range of actions and complete complex coding projects, removing the need for junior developer roles.
- Data Scientists: AI excels at evaluating massive volumes of data, identifying trends and delivering insights in real time, automating the entire data analysis process.
- Market Research Analysts: AI can glean valuable insights quickly from studying market trends, outperforming market research analysts in areas like instant trading.
As the number of jobs dwindles and more workers are displaced by automation, college graduates and young professionals will likely have a difficult time finding a job. In fact, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates between ages 22 and 27 hit 5.8 percent in April 2025, and the rate for young workers in the same age group reached 7.1 percent that same month — well above the unemployment rate for all workers, which peaked at 4.0 percent.
Students continue to graduate from college, but the junior roles they once relied on to jumpstart their careers are no longer there. With AI removing the first rungs of the career ladder white-collar workers have climbed in years past, newer professionals are reconsidering their paths and taking a closer look at the skilled trades.
Why Are the Skilled Trades Making a Comeback?
According to a McKinsey report, the number of annual U.S. hires in the skilled trades could be more than 20 times the number of annual net new jobs between 2022 and 2032. This hiring surge can be attributed to an aging blue-collar workforce, coupled with a growing demand for infrastructure projects in light of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Another attractive aspect of the skilled trades, though, is their resilience in the age of automation. Although AI has progressed rapidly, the robotics industry has largely struggled to take hold in countries outside of China. Humanoid robots still lack the motor skills and dexterity to repair a roof, clean dishes, carry patients and perform other complex physical tasks. That’s why some of the most AI-resistant jobs fall under the skilled trades, according to Microsoft’s study:
- Nursing Assistants: Robots don’t have the mobility or coordination to help patients with everyday activities like eating, getting dressed or brushing their teeth.
- Dredge Operators: Without a physical body, AI can’t operate the levers used to control the movements of dredges. It also struggles to adapt to changing real-world conditions.
- Floor Sanders and Finishers: Robots don’t have the fine motor skills to carefully smooth over surfaces and scrape away edges.
- Orderlies: Robots lack the knowledge of safety protocols and spatial awareness needed to physically transport patients and keep their living environments clean.
- Massage Therapists: Massaging muscles and soft tissue requires a high level of dexterity and intuitive touch that robots simply don’t have.
- Phlebotomists: Drawing blood is another task that AI and robots don’t have the physical capabilities to perform. Plus, managing fears of needles may be better left to a human.
In addition to requiring physical skills AI doesn’t have, blue-collar roles offer a decent amount of financial security. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricians make an average annual salary of $62,350; plumbers make $62,970; and HVAC mechanics make $59,810. Not a bad start. An Angi report found that trades companies are sweetening the deal with hiring bonuses, performance bonuses and above-average wages as well.
At the same time, lucrative software roles are drying up, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicting that AI could write “essentially all of the code” by 2026. The belief that learning to code would guarantee a successful career has backfired on tech professionals, as AI steers more workers toward the very blue-collar jobs that it was supposed to automate.
AI Is Creating More Demand for Blue-Collar Work
Behind powerful AI systems are networks of hardware and software components, including data centers, nuclear power plants and AI chips such as Google’s tensor processing unit. As governments pour more resources into expanding their AI infrastructure, they’ll need more workers to build and maintain these facilities. For instance, Google is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy to train more than 100,000 electrical workers in using AI tools and 30,000 new apprentices by 2030 to run a more efficient energy grid.
Construction workers, electricians, data center managers, power plant operators and HVAC technicians are all professions that stand to benefit from this strategy. In addition, the facilities they’ll help create and run will fuel large language models that can complete even more challenging tasks, putting white-collar workers out of a job and drawing even more talent into the skilled trades as part of a furious cycle of AI development.
How Can Tech Workers Break Into the Skilled Trades?
Becoming a skilled tradesperson is more accessible than white-collar professions, but still requires time and resources. Here are some steps to keep in mind if you’re thinking of transitioning into a trade:
Explore Opportunities at Your Company
Some organizations offer retraining programs to help employees move into other roles in the face of automation. If your job is at risk of being automated, see if your company offers a training program for retaining employees in different positions.
Complete the Appropriate Education
If you need to acquire training on your own, consider education programs at vocational schools, community colleges or specialized trade schools. Many of these programs already come with an apprenticeship component. Otherwise, enroll in an apprenticeship program after finishing your initial education to gain hands-on experience in your preferred field.
Earn the Appropriate Certification or License
Achieve all necessary certifications and licenses for your profession. For example, forklift operators need safety certifications to work, and plumbers need a license to operate in certain states. Be sure to double-check industry and local requirements for your role.
Take AI Courses and Bootcamps
Even if AI doesn’t replace blue-collar jobs, it’s certainly becoming an integral part of everyday workflows. Complete AI certifications and machine learning bootcamps to prove you’re comfortable working with AI tools.
“I don’t think it’s like, ‘Because you can do the physical work, your job is secured, just because AI can’t do it now,’” Sun said. “At some point, some technology will be able to do it. And if you do not make plans, you will be locked in the bottom of the job market.”
What Does This Mean for the Future of Work?
The narrative of going to college for a reliable career no longer holds in the age of AI. According to a Handshake survey, 62 percent of seniors in the class of 2025 are somewhat or very concerned about how generative AI could impact their careers. These fears are driving more young people to favor the trades over college, and this trend is likely to continue as AI disrupts more industries.
As entry-level tech jobs disappear and college attendance numbers decline, decent salaries and rising demand will only make blue-collar professions more attractive, especially as the U.S. races to fill roles in places like data centers and manufacturing facilities. A greater portion of the workforce could get funneled into the skilled trades, granting blue-collar work more prestige and redefining what it means to have a “good job.” Still, workers would be limited to physical labor that may not pay as well as any remaining tech roles that manage AI tools, hindering their social mobility.
“For a family to progress into a wealthier family or better socioeconomic status, sometimes it takes multiple generations,” Sun said. “Those entry-level white-collar office jobs seem to be very boring, but they’re very important, for example, for a farmer family to be able to go into that kind of industry, for their kids to do their industry.”
However, it’s only a matter of time before the skilled trades get automated as well. Robots have already taken over industries like construction and manufacturing. While China has led the way in the robotics field, companies like Tesla and Figure AI are racing to keep pace. And although Trump’s tariffs are meant to bring jobs back to the U.S., they may encourage companies to invest more in automation as a cost-saving measure. In fact, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick views robots as crucial to the U.S. revitalizing its manufacturing sector.
Today’s college graduates already have to cope with the loss of entry-level tech opportunities, and are witnessing AI slowly automate aspects of the skilled trades, too. If robots catch up with AI, both white- and blue-collar jobs could become obsolete, raising serious questions about people’s future career prospects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it so hard for recent college graduates to find tech jobs?
AI is increasingly automating entry-level white-collar jobs, making it difficult for recent graduates to find opportunities in their chosen fields. In addition, tech companies are no longer hiring recent college graduates in general: A SignalFire report found that new graduates now make up only 7 percent of hires at big tech companies.
Which white-collar jobs are most at risk from AI-driven automation?
Tasks that consist of repetitive actions or lots of data processing are the most likely to get automated by AI. A Microsoft survey confirms that jobs like customer service representatives, sales representatives, various types of writers and junior developers are most threatened by AI-driven automation.
Why are the skilled trades becoming more popular?
The robotics industry hasn’t performed well outside of China, preventing AI from taking on more physical labor. The need for more AI infrastructure has also led to calls for more tradespeople to maintain data centers, nuclear power plants and other facilities. At the same time, the U.S. is experiencing shortages in the skilled trades, leading many employers to offer a slate of benefits to attract new recruits. As a result, the trades have become more appealing for college graduates and younger professionals seeking stable career options.
