There is no such thing as unskilled labor.
Surgeon? Yes. House painter? Probably not.
In what world is a surgeon blue-collar? Certainly not this one.
And adding to this, in what world is being a house painter unskilled? I’m pretty sure there’s a large difference of skill between me chucking paint at a wall and hoping it sticks and someone who’s been doing it for years
Same story as a retail job, basically. Anyone can do it at a basic level (and lots of people do jump right in professionally), although speed and quality will improve with practice. Compare that to tiling a shower or putting in electrical, where substandard work will lead to damage or actual injury.
They get paid way less than other tradespeople as a result.
It was the least skilled modern and Western blue collar job I could think of. Most of the rest have been partly automated, which blurs the line with white collar jobs. For example, a crop farmer can stay perfectly clean and comfortable all day driving a combine. Edit: Although deciding the inputs and timings of things to crops is not unskilled, if they also do that.
