Stress among Blue-Collar Workers

This chapter examines some of the background and research on stress among blue-collar workers and presents blue-collar stress as belonging to work of a particular class and culture. An analysis of results for blue-collar workers from the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey of 1995 allows an examination of the major determinants of stress. Women in nontraditional blue-collar jobs were compared with women in training to see whether those who enter blue-collar work are predisposed to making role transitions successfully or whether they alter their coping styles. Unionization can have important effects on the stress of blue-collar workers. Some studies have focused on the effects of stressful work events on the rest of life. The results of the Australian national study showed that during the mid-1990s, some major changes had taken place in blue-collar work in Australia. Blue-collar employment was on the decline.