As the demand for essential services increases in urban cities of India, the demand for blue-collar workers has also increased over the years. And this is happening while the “respectable” white-collar jobs are witnessing a slump in the job sector. India is a young economy, which means that infrastructure is still being built, new companies are starting and more investment is taking place which brings greater opportunities and potential for blue-collar job industry.
Trending Blue-Collar Jobs in India
- Driver – The launch of taxi-sharing apps such as Uber and Ola not only helped people in getting affordable and convenient rides every day, they also helped the blue-collar sector of the economy significantly. Linking drivers to riders on a smart phone, these two companies that currently control 95% of the market changed the way cab drivers we’re earning in the company. An Ola and Uber driver’s monthly average salary is somewhere between Rs. 45000 to Rs. 95000, depending on the number of trips to take. In fact, a recent report by the news site Quartz claimed that these drivers were earning more than an Engineering graduate in India working at a popular company like Infosys. Now, a day driver jobs became very famous among youngster also.
- Delivery – The delivery sector has huge job potential for drivers with the growth of not only food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy but shopping apps as well like Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra. A delivery boy working with Zomato or Ubereats could easily earn somewhere between Rs. 25000 to Rs. 50000 every month. This is a considerable increase from last year’s statistics when this figure was only between Rs. 10000 to Rs. 25000. This rise is due to the growth of the e-commerce industry in India which is soon going to overtake the USA to become by 2034 the second largest e-commerce market in the entire world. Better access to smart phones can be attributed as a reason for this growth, not only for the e-commerce sector but also for delivery drivers. Companies like Swiggy and Zomato are churning out profitable incentives and hikes to their delivery drivers as well, as a result of which the latter’s income have increased by 30% on average when compared with last year.
- Mobile Technician – Almost every second person in India has a smart phone now. With low-cost smart phones and even more affordable calling plans, people all over the country are heartily adopting this urbanized lifestyle. But the increasing number of smart phones in India also implies more breakage and more repairs and more demand for mobile technicians. There are official service centers set up by smart phone companies and local mobile repair shops as well for people who can’t afford the high cost of repair rolled out by these companies. The mobile technician is an ever-growing blue-collar job field and there is not going to be any plunge anytime soon. A mobile technician in Delhi earns an average monthly salary of Rs. 16651 per month whereas for the other parts of this country this figure is a little low at Rs. 14100.
- Beauty, Grooming, And Spa – The beauty sector in India is probably one of the sectors in India that rarely see a slump. No matter how bad the recession or job loss is, people, particularly women, don’t stop visiting salons and spas. And thanks to apps like Urban Clap, these beauty and grooming services can be accessed from the comfort of their homes as well. It is the launch of these service provider apps that opened a world of opportunities for beauty sector workers. In fact, the request for bridal and party makeup and grooming services accounts for 5% of their total gross requests.
Urban Clap is generous with its payment structure as well, more generous than companies like Uber and Ola, whose slashing of incentives of their drivers recently witnessed protests all over the country. While a beautician working at a normal salon earns an average salary of Rs. 15000 per month, they can earn an average of Rs. 50000 to 90000 per month while working for Urban Clap. This is because the latter keeps only 15 to 20% of the billing while the salons retain around 70% of the billings, leaving beautician with almost nothing in their hands. Urban Clap not only trains these workers but also provides them with the required equipment and products for their use at cheap monthly installments.
- Home Repair And Maintenance – This is another blue-collar job that is perpetually in demand. Every other day, there is a demand for repairing some faulty equipment or there is a demand for painters or AC repairers. But talking about the growth in this field requires mention of online apps like Urban Clap (again) and HouseJoy that have made access to these workers easier and more convenient. These apps have done a great job of organizing a high sector that was highly fragmented earlier. With globalization, people’s standard of living has increased and now they are willing to pay more for availing these services because of the lack of workers in this field. A carpenter’s average monthly salary, for instance, is Rs. 15000 per month but by working with these service provider apps he can easily earn around Rs. 40000 to Rs. 50000 per month. One thing that needs to be mentioned here is the convenience of these jobs as well. While working at a shop for these workers is hard, with no job security, low monthly pay, and hardly any leaves, these changes when they start working with the service-provider companies. They are more in control of their working hours and that provides a different level of satisfaction.
- Photographer Or Videographer – Photography or videography is one of those job areas which don’t require many technical skills. You need to know how to handle a camera and some basics of its functioning and you are good to go. A photographer can opt to work for a newspaper, magazine, at weddings, parties, different types of events and even go solo and work as a freelancer. Digitization has a profound impact on everything we do and it’s hard to ignore its effect. There are several online companies that help you connect with the right photographer and videographer. By building a decent portfolio, a photographer can easily earn a monthly average salary of Rs. 35000 to Rs.60000, depending upon the type of photographer you are, your skills and the number of years of experience you have.
- Mobile App Developer – In the year 2019, Indians installed 4.5 billion apps line, more than any other country in the world. With around 450 million smart phone users in India, the demand for high-quality and effective mobile apps also rises. There are so many mobile apps available for different uses such as banking, pic editing, health, retail, e-commerce; the lists just never seem to end.
With the growth of startups in the country, the demand for these apps is increasing exponentially. Everyone wants to have a digital presence these days; companies know that if you are not there online, you surely don’t exist. The increase in mobile phone apps has brought the job of app developers in the limelight.
According to PPI, a public policy think tank, the country employed 1.67 million workers in app development jobs, a steep increase of 39% since May 2016. A 2015 study by ICRIER also stated that of all the mobile apps in the world, more than 10% were developed by Indians. An entry-level mobile developer in the country earns an average yearly salary of Rs. 2,30000 whereas for a more experienced mobile developer, this figure goes as high as Rs. 450,000 per annum.
- Video Marketer – The majority of companies today use videos as a marketing tool. It is one of the best ways to promote one’s product. It boosts sales, provides better ROI and builds trust in the minds of customers. But as lucrative it is for companies using it, the marketers of these videos are benefitting as well. This blue-collar job is on its way of becoming a highly lucrative and high earning job. By editing videos, shooting them, posting them on websites and marketing then, one can easily earn an average monthly salary of Rs. 40000.
- Online Marketer – One of the most innovative concepts in the field of digital marketing is online marketing where companies’ products and services are marketed on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As easy as it might sound, the whole process requires skills and expertise to perform. That’s why social media marketers are so much in demand. Once considered a low-level job, it is gaining popularity tremendously. Social media is a powerful tool and companies know that. More and more startups are also getting involved by hiring the services of video marketers to place their goods and services in the market. A good video marketer will earn monthly on an average basis Rs. 50000.
- Gym/Yoga Trainer – With more people in India getting conscious about their health, what is the future of the fitness industry in India, particularly gyms, one wonders? With end-to-end growth and promising potential, gyms are here to change one exercise and keep themselves healthy. The gym culture in India is highly fragmented and shapeless, but with the entry of many global players in the market, that is going to change very soon. Few startups have come with innovative ideas as well that will make exercising not only fun and productive but also profitable for the people.
Though this whole gym/yoga culture is at the infancy stage right now, it is growing at a promising and exponential rate. Even in Tier II and Tier III cities, small gyms are cropping up in every locality and people are going there with great fervor. Talking about yoga, it’s something that belongs to our country for a very long time. But if people thought yoga to be something old people do before, they are certainly changing their perception now.
With the globalization of yoga and many western countries adopting it, people in India have started considering it cool and taking an interest in it, especially in urban cities. A gym or a yoga instructor is a promising job that will see manifolds growth in the future. While a gym instructor can easily earn somewhere between Rs. 20000 to Rs. 30000 per month, a yoga instructor’s earning is variable as he charges Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1500 per session per person.
Conclusion
Blue-collar job vacancies are not very popular with middle class families in India. Parents want their children to have an office job, toiling away 8 hours a day, earning just enough to sustain themselves, and the worst part is that salary is fixed and sees a very minute change every year, if any. It’s time to change that perception because blue-collar industry is at an all time high. With so much exciting opportunities, it would be foolish to ignore its potential. One can earn a decent amount of money while working a blue-collar job and that earning varies according to the clients served.
Few experts in the industry refuse to see any classification between blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Their logic is simple. If a blue-collar job helps one earn the same amount of money or even more than a person with white-collar job, both should be regarded with the same respect. Rituparna Chakravarti, President of Indian Staffing Federation, asks an important question, “A driver in Ola earns more than an entry-level software engineer. Then can you term that [a driver’s job] a blue-collar one?”