The American economy has changed so much in the last few decades that more and more young people, as well as many parents, feel that college is not necessarily the best choice for the future.
Yet, even as cultural mores around the importance of a college education shift, long-standing attitudes seem to hold that blue-collar jobs are somehow “less than” white-collar office jobs—even among those who do them.
A 24-year-old garbageman feels embarrassed by his job, despite seeing a bright future in it.
This 24-year-old Redditor is part of a broader trend — Gen Zers are entering blue-collar jobs in the trades at rates much higher than the generations before them.
A 2024 survey by workforce insights platform Intelligent.com found that nearly a third of Gen Z workers said they plan to pursue a professional career, not only because of the prohibitive cost of education and the cutthroat job market, but also due to fear of AI taking over many jobs.
This Gen Zer knew college was off the table and enjoyed his sanitary position. Still, his class anxiety persists.
“I knew I was never going to college,” the young man admitted in his post, “so I went to truck driving school and got my [commercial driver’s license (CDL)].” A CDL opens up all kinds of job opportunities today, and he found that it did for him too — driving a garbage truck.
“I’ve been a garbage man for the last two years,” he explained. “It’s a solid job, great benefits, and I currently make $24 an hour. I could see myself doing this job for a long time.” Sounds ideal, right?
But, he added, “I feel a sense of embarrassment in doing so.” Despite all the benefits, he said that “every time someone asks me what I do for work, I feel embarrassed.”
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It’s not exactly hard to figure out why – our culture has long looked down on all jobless jobs, viewing them as unsophisticated and reflective of a working class or intelligence.
In short, it’s all about snobbery and elitism. And the anger it rightly inspires has been very cleverly harnessed to make matters worse – elite politicians play on those emotions to get elected only to turn around and pass legislation that actively hurts workers in every way.
Blue collar jobs are very important, often highly qualified work – and these attitudes must change.
On Reddit, people urged this guy to change his perspective on his job. “It’s a totally important and respectable job,” wrote one user. “I think we should respect all jobs, but especially yours is one of the most important jobs for society.”
“I respect you more than anyone whose job is just to push around papers or money for billionaires,” another commenter added. “You’re up there with teachers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, social workers and firefighters as far as I’m concerned. You may not see the effects directly, but you’re indirectly saving lives daily.”
These people are right – aside from the fact that all work is honorable and worthy of respect, no matter how “casual” it may seem, blue collar work is what literally keeps our world going.
America’s unions have been drastically weakened by decades of terrible government policies enacted by both political parties, so we mostly have to look to places like Europe to see how vital these workers are. When sanitation or transport workers go on strike in places like France or Britain, for example, those countries come to a standstill.
Here in the US, these long-standing attitudes that trade workers are not as important or prestigious as those who sit in cubicles doing spreadsheets all day have resulted in a crisis-level shortage of workers in the trades – which has only served to make these jobs even more lucrative than they have always been.
The bottom line is that his fellow Redditors are right: “garbage man” is a very important job and worthy of pride. And if it’s keeping the bills paid in a way that doesn’t make you miserable? Well, ask your friendly local cubicle rat with an email job if they can say the same. They will surely surprise you.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer covering pop culture, social justice and human interest issues.