In all three areas of white-collar work, companies are struggling to manage growing complexity.

ECONOMIST: Men and machines

Tatar plans to reduce Mead's white-collar work force of 5, 000 by 7% by the middle of 1999.

FORBES: Paper & forest products

Broadband Internet and search tools have made it possible to perform sophisticated white-collar work in small towns.

FORBES: Wriston's Law Still Holds

Let's say you perform white-collar work of a kind that doesn't require you to meet with customers or coworkers regularly.

FORBES: Telecommuting Heavens

Just as in manufacturing, the solution to the growing complexity of white-collar work is to do less of it in-house.

ECONOMIST: Men and machines

The cloud enables white-collar workers to work anywhere, allowing smart companies to seek locales with low taxes and overhead.

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Many families have been here for generations, and some of the younger Dharavi residents even work in white-collar jobs.

BBC: Mumbai: India's Tinseltown

Over 95% of adult Kuwaitis work for the government, usually in white-collar civil-service jobs.

ECONOMIST: Beyond Wisteria Lane

The mega rich also largely hold white-collar positions and are able to take advantage of flexible work environments.

FORBES: Why Do The Mega Rich Continue To Work?

They're on the average, less educated, concentrated in - not in white-collar jobs, but in jobs in the service industry and hotel and restaurant and hospital work and other places where the skill requirements are not so great.

NPR: The Hidden Costs and Benefits of Illegal Immigration

They opt for white-collar jobs over blue-collar jobs, or (depending on their personality) jobs that let them work with other people rather than sitting at a desk, or outside rather than inside.

FORBES: Work and Leisure are a Spectrum