For decades, the standard formula for financial success was the same: go to college, get a degree, and land a prestigious white-collar job—probably a lawyer, consultant, or investment banker.
But entrepreneur and author Daniel Priestley is sounding the alarm on a major job-market shift. He suggests the traditional hierarchy of labor (white-collar over blue-collar) is actually flipping.
Priestley, founder and CEO of Dent Global, an entrepreneur accelerator, said he’s observed that the nature of the economy is changing so rapidly that he envisions a future in which “plumbers regularly earn more than lawyers,” as blue-collar roles are elevated while professional services face unprecedented disruption from AI.
“For the last 25 years I’ve been building companies from scratch and I’ve been through the Global Financial Crisis,” Priestley said during a recent appearance on the Diary of a CEO podcast. “But I have never experienced what we’re experiencing right now.”
“I’ve never seen more fear for the disruption that is coming,” he continued.
