It's 10000x better in the blue collar world because right off the bat you're assumed to be as useless as a person can possibly be so you either do the futile argue for a raise (which never matches what you should get) or you take a huge pay cut when finding a new job...
I've been stuck in the same cycle for 15 years now... Get shitty raises for 5 years, get burned out and bail, take massive pay cut, prove my worth to get back to shitty wage I left for but am now burned out again, find a new job and take another massive pay cut etc etc... adjusted for inflation I make as much now as I did 10 years ago...
These articles are always about white collar work. :(