Gen Zers jaded by sky-high tuition costs and workers wanting to ditch their unfulfilling desk jobs are turning to blue-collar jobs as their next professional adventure. And now, some artisan businesses like Rolex are welcoming them to the trade life with open arms.
The luxury watch manufacturer launched its Watchmaking Training Center in 2023, and in the years since, has trained dozens in the art of making timepieces. The program emerged from a haunting truth: the craft was dying out, with fewer than 2,000 professional watchmakers left in the U.S., according to recent reporting from GQ. Yet Rolex still has hefty market demands to fulfill; the business currently sells over a million watches every year, a personal best for the luxury brand.
The company is hoping its tuition-free program in Dallas will nurture its next generation of watchmakers—even those who have never tinkered with a timepiece.
And so far, the training has driven fierce competition among professionals looking to take a career leap; In 2024, more than 560 applications applied to the Rolex program’s 27 open spots. That’s a 4.82% acceptance rate—nearly as competitive as getting into Harvard University.
The 18-month program has admitted a whole host of talent: from indecisive students and college dropouts, to recent high school graduates, ex office workers, and blue-collar professionals. Through their coursework the novice watchmakers study the design and machinery behind Rolex watches, and learn how to repair those that are worse for wear. Around 50 professionals are currently enrolled in the Watchmaking Training Center, with 23 Rolex students undertaking the program in September 2024, and another 27 starting training one year later.
Once trainees wrap up the program, they have one last task to become professional watchmakers: take the Rolex final exam at its headquarters in Geneva. If they pass, they become Rolex-certified watchmakers, and could earn an average annual salary of $95,000 (£70,000), according to GQ.
Fortune reached out to Rolex for comment.
Other companies including Whole Foods are all-in on artisan jobs
Professionals are hand-wringing over the state of the labor market: AI is swiping office roles at a dizzying speed, entry-level gigs are disappearing from job sites, and the value of expensive college degrees is being challenged. Artisan jobs and blue-collar work may be a buoy from the headwinds.
Just like Rolex, grocery giant Whole Foods Market is also reviving artisan apprenticeships. Each quarter, the billion-dollar company welcomes hundreds of staffers into its upskilling program, offering them the chance to swap working at a corporate desk or behind a cash register to become a trained butcher.
Other pathways include fishmonger, meat butcher, bakery decorator, cheese professional, and produce professional, and training can last from 13 weeks all the way up to 12 months.
Employee wages increase when they enter the program, and it’s giving them the chance to pursue an AI-proof career.
“This is just the beginning—we’re building something that scales with our business and creates real, lasting career opportunities,” Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, chief merchandising and marketing officer at Whole Foods, told Fortune last year.
“Many of our alumni go on to advance their careers within the company, using their apprenticeship as a springboard…This is more than training, it’s a career accelerator.”
Why trade jobs are having a moment: AI automation and costly college degrees
Blue-collar work is rising in popularity among disillusioned professionals—about 62% of white-collar workers even said they’d swap their career for a trade if it ensured better stability and pay, according to a 2025 report from FlexJobs. And it’s no coincidence that the trend coincides with the rise of AI, as well as broader labor and economic uncertainty.
Job-seekers are up against an employer’s job market. Even the chair of the federal reserve, Jerome Powell, acknowledged the barriers for budding professionals, explaining “it’s just gotten tough for people entering the labor force to be hired.”
Leaders have speculated that AI will wipe out 50% of entry-level roles, and some workers like computer-programming are already feeling the heat. Due to this seismic tech shift, business leaders even debate if costly college degrees are worth the spend, as students aren’t being trained for the jobs available on the market.
Gen Zers have woken up to this new reality, watching their peers apply to thousands of jobs to no avail. So more of the young workers, dubbed the new “toolbelt generation,” are chasing the trades over corporate gigs.
Enrollment in vocational-focused community colleges jumped 16% in 2024—reaching a record high since the National Student Clearinghouse began tracking the data back in 2018. There also was a 23% surge in Gen Z studying construction trade from 2022 to 2023, and a 7% hike of participation in HVAC and vehicle repair programs. Most Americans, 78%, have seen a rising interest in trade jobs from young adults.
