For other uses, see White collar (disambiguation). The term white-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative, and sales coordination tasks, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor. "White-collar work" is an informal term, defined in contrast to "blue-collar work". History Origin of the term The term "white collar" was first used by Upton Sinclair, an American writer, in relation to modern… (More on White-collar)