O que se incentivou em portugal foi a existência...

... deste tipo de trabalhadores:

Gold-collar worker (GCW) is rarely used compared to its blue-collar and white-collar counterparts. It is used as a marketing term more often than referring to a class of society.

A typical demographic of the gold-collar worker is a person who has attended vocational school, community college or other post-high school education, but didn't graduate or has a high school diploma or less, 18 to 25 years old and employed either full time or part time. This group tends to have more disposable income than college students, who pay high tuitions and manage loans and other debt. The big drawback is however that the income of college graduates by far exceeds that of these typical "gold collar" workers.

"These people are going to be cash-rich 19-year-olds and cash-poor 30-year-olds... If you're making 22 grand a year and not paying for college, you can earn enough disposable income to have an apartment and a car. But it tops out there. Job security is not good, and you end up in the lower middle class and working poor."
-Anthony Carnevale, National Center on Education and the Economy


Because gold-collar workers have more disposable income, their spending can be dictated more by taste and preference rather than utility.

A concern for gold-collar workers is poor job security and the lack of job advancement opportunities due to less education


Desitiram de estudar, ganham um ordenado razoável aos 19/20 anos, não têm obrigações familiares e podem comprar quase tudo o que querem, mas aos 30 anos com essas obrigações familiares passam de dourados a pobres. Portugal com a ideia de que as licenciaturas não serviam para arranjar emprego fez com que se produzisse uma % destes trabalhadores e agora 20 anos depois de entrarmos na UE, já existe uma faixa larga desses trabalhadores entre os 30 a 40 anos que são efectivamente pobres e culpam os "ricos" e os que estudaram, e o governo vai na cantiga decretando aumentos maiores para estes "dourados" dos que efectivamente fizeram um sacrificio na sua vida, estudando, vivendo mal enquanto viam os "dourados" a passearem nos seus carros.

Assim, foi Portugal, mas pior é que assim continua a ser...