Gold-collar worker

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Gold-collar worker (GCW) is rarely used compared to its blue-collar and white-collar counterparts. It is used as a marketing term more often than referring to a class of society.

A typical demographic of the gold-collar worker is a person who has attended vocational school, community college or other post-high school education, but didn't graduate or has a high school diploma or less, 18 to 25 years old and employed either full time or part time. This group tends to have more disposable income than college students, who pay high tuitions and manage loans and other debt. The big drawback is however that the income of college graduates by far exceeds that of these typical "gold collar" workers.

"These people are going to be cash-rich 19-year-olds and cash-poor 30-year-olds... 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."
-Anthony Carnevale, National Center on Education and the Economy