clerical workers edge toward extinction
Secretaries in many ways have Become Obsolete
Bill O'Leary | The Washington Post
Lisa Rein | The Washington Post
Automation has been transforming the federal workforce for two generations.
In 1950, clerical jobs represented three-quarters of the federal workforce.
By the mid-1980s, the figure was down to a fifth.
Today, these jobs are a mere 4 percent of the workforce of 2.1 million. That amounts to 87,153 people, less than a quarter of them secretaries.
In just the past eight years, the government has shed 40,000 clerical jobs.
At many private companies, secretaries and clerks long ago became relics as the technology revolution spread.
Now that most Americans file their taxes electronically, the Internal Revenue Service needs fewer clerks to open paper returns.
The Federal Aviation Administration has put its accident inspection reports online, so it needs fewer assistants to scan them in.
In an age of teleconferencing, the front-office receptionist escorts fewer visitors to see the boss.
The downsizing is cementing the government as a bastion of white-collar, increasingly specialized professional work that demands a college degree, eliminating what was once a significant source of jobs for those with limited education.
In the 1950s, secretaries were typing, filing, taking dictation, answering phones and opening mail in just about every American business and government office. The jobs were a woman’s ticket into the workforce.
Not all of the remaining clerical staff members are mere vestiges. Some have kept pace with a workplace that demands more specialized tasks than ever.
Instead of taking dictation with shorthand, they load presentations into PowerPoint.
Instead of typing and faxing, they scan documents into a computer.
And instead of supporting one executive in the C-suite, they work for five. Or for 50, as at the General Services Administration, where one assistant works for the entire executive staff.