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March 1, 2005 Story

New 'Gold-Collar' Young Workers Gain Clout
Marketers Are Beginning to Take Notice of 18- to 25-Year-Olds
in a New Working Class With Money to Burn.

About 17 million young working-class adults — 53% of U.S. adults ages 18 to 25 — have a high school diploma or less and are employed either full time or part time, reports one firm. The research also identifies a subset of the working class that differs from the traditional "blue-collar" worker, both in aspirations and ethnicity. Traditional blue-collar workers tend to be white males employed in jobs including plumbers, electricians, carpenters and cable TV installers. The new group, called "gold collar," are more often black and Hispanic men and women working in fast-food and retail jobs, or as security guards, office workers or hairdressers.

David Morrison of TWENTYSOMETHING Inc., a Philadelphia-based consulting and research firm, is pleased to see more data about working-class youth, who differ from their college-educated counterparts. "They get married younger. They're having children younger. They're leading more traditional lifestyles, similar to what the boomers did in terms of jump-starting their lives at an earlier age," he says.

About 35% of the young workers have attended vocational school, community college or other post-high school education, but didn't graduate, the survey finds. But some say money can be a trap. "Everyone doesn't need to go to college and get bachelor's degree, but high school alone is worth less on the labor market than it's ever been," says Patrick Callan of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Anthony Carnevale of the National Center on Education and the Economy agrees. "These people are going to be cash-rich 19-year-olds and cash-poor 30-year-olds," he says. "If you're making 22 grand a year and not paying for college, you can earn enough disposable income to have an apartment and a car. But it tops out there. Job security is not good, and you end up in the lower middle class and working poor."

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Also featured as a syndicated article on: CBS News/Local Affiliate (North Carolina), Florida Today, and elsewhere

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