People are seeking out blue-collar work and making the switch to more physically demanding jobs to avoid the growing takeover of AI technology
White-collar workers are increasingly giving up their office jobs for trades. Experts have said employees are fed up of the rat race and professions where AI is taking over.
Instead they are seeking out blue-collar work and making the switch to more physically demanding jobs.
King’s College London economics lecturer Bouke Teeselink said: “We are definitely seeing shifts away from more AI-exposed occupations, especially white-collar work.
“Our traditional training pipeline is you do an entry-level job, get the expertise you need and then develop yourself into a more senior expert in whatever field you’re in.
“That pipeline seems to be disappearing at the moment — it’s a major public policy concern, how to deal with that.”
Early careers job advertisements have fallen by almost a third since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022.
About 40% of recent graduates are already “underemployed”, meaning they work jobs that do not require a degree, such as hospitality or retail.
But for more than a decade the government has tried to encourage young adults to take up trade apprenticeships. Mum-of-two Janine Etienne, 46, swapped a desk job to train as a sparky in 2019 and is an apprentice with Camden council.
She said: “This job is physically demanding, but it’s extremely rewarding. With AI coming in to play more and more, I think people are looking for something that’s going to give them stability.
“Having a trade, you’ve got something for life. You can always fall back on that and you can take it anywhere.
“Who wouldn’t want something you can take worldwide? It’s a completely different world and, yeah, I love it.”
Chris Claydon, chief exec at national apprenticeship provider JTL Training, said interest from white-collar workers in retraining for trades roles is “absolutely” on the rise.
He added: “Increasingly people are realising the value of a degree isn’t equivalent to the cost of one. Our electricians often get their coffee handed to them by degree-qualified baristas.
“It’s a very well-renumerated profession with a job for life. They’re also AI-proof.
“We use those tools but aren’t going to be replaced by them.”