# Office Clerks, General

US SOC code 43-9061. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/43-9061

Also called: Office clerk, General office clerk, Office assistant, Administrative clerk, Clerical assistant.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **2,464,940** US general office clerks, with median pay of **$45,010** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **2,578,180**, in May 2021, close to the May 2025 count. The earliest figure here is [a Census (IPUMS) count](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/OCC1950) of **63,000** from 1870, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for general office clerks: Robotic Process Automation, 2017 to 2023.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to decline 6% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=43-9061&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **46%** of work tasks in office and administrative support occupations, this job's group, are exposed to automation by AI. Not a forecast of job losses. [Goldman Sachs, 2023](https://www.gspublishing.com/content/research/en/reports/2023/03/27/d64e052b-0f6e-45d7-967b-d7be35fabd16.pdf)
- **50%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)
- **0.96** estimated probability that the whole occupation could be computerised, over an unspecified number of years. Not a forecast of job losses. [Frey and Osborne, 2013](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf)

### Since the 2013 prediction

In 2013, Frey and Osborne put this job's probability of computerisation at 0.96. BLS counted **2,832,010** of these jobs in May 2013 and **2,464,940** in May 2025. The count moved sharply in one step, May 2020 to May 2021, when BLS changed how it estimates these counts, so no change is derived here.

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Office Clerks, General employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1853
- Latest US employment: 2,464,940 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $45,010 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [15]
- Outlook: -6% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [40]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **Canada** (NOC 14100)
  - Employment, 2020: 177,980. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [7]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021: number of persons with employment income in NOC 14100 General office support workers, Canada, reference year 2020. A recipients basis (anyone with employment income during the year), slightly broader than a point-in-time employed count. Statistics Canada Open Licence.
  - Median pay, 2020: C$50,000. Source: Statistics Canada Census 2021 [18]. Statistics Canada Census of Population 2021 (Table 98-10-0586): median employment income for NOC 14100 General office support workers, Canada, reference year 2020, full-year full-time workers (the basis comparable to the US OEWS full-time median). Statistics Canada Open Licence.
- **United Kingdom** (UK SOC 4159)
  - Employment, 2025: 728,000. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 [9]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14): employee jobs in SOC 4159 Other administrative occupations n.e.c., United Kingdom, 2025 (ASHE "number of jobs", thousands x1000; excludes self-employment). Open Government Licence v3.0.
  - Median pay, 2025: £23,385. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 [20]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14.7a): median gross annual pay for all employee jobs in SOC 4159 Other administrative occupations n.e.c., United Kingdom, 2025. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- **Australia** (ANZSCO 5311)
  - Employment, 2025: 286,600. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey [10]. ABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 5311 General Clerks, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
  - Median pay, 2025: A$74,776. Source: ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 [21]. Annualised (x52) from A$1,438 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.

### All 33 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1870 | 63,000 | n/a | Census (IPUMS) [1] |
| 1900 | 250,000 | n/a | Decennial Census 1970 [2] |
| 1910 | n/a | $780 | BLS historical bulletin 1970 [11] |
| 1920 | n/a | $1,400 | BLS historical bulletin 1970 [11] |
| 1930 | 750,000 | n/a | Decennial Census 1970 [2] |
| 1960 | 1,500,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., BLS Bulletin 1312 [3] |
| 1980 | 2,400,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., BLS [4] |
| 1986 | n/a | $14,700 | BLS CPS 1986 [12] |
| 1990 | n/a | $16,800 | BLS CPS 1990 [13] |
| 1999 | n/a | $24,713 | Census 2000 [14] |
| 2003 | 2,926,160 | $22,450 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [5] |
| 2004 | 2,970,660 | $22,770 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [5] |
| 2005 | 2,997,370 | $23,070 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [5] |
| 2006 | 3,026,710 | $23,710 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [5] |
| 2007 | 2,980,350 | $24,460 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [5] |
| 2008 | 2,906,600 | $25,320 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [5] |
| 2009 | 2,815,240 | $26,140 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [5] |
| 2010 | 2,789,590 | $26,610 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [5] |
| 2011 | 2,828,140 | $27,190 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [5] |
| 2012 | 2,808,100 | $27,470 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [5] |
| 2013 | 2,832,010 | $28,050 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [5] |
| 2014 | 2,889,970 | $28,670 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [5] |
| 2015 | 2,944,420 | $29,580 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [5] |
| 2016 | 2,955,550 | $30,580 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [5] |
| 2017 | 2,967,620 | $31,500 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [5] |
| 2018 | 2,972,930 | $32,730 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [5] |
| 2019 | 2,956,060 | $34,040 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 2,788,090 | $35,330 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 2,578,180 | $37,030 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 2,517,350 | $38,040 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 2,496,370 | $40,480 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 2,510,550 | $43,630 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 2,464,940 | $45,010 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (118)

### Employment series

1. [IPUMS USA — OCC1950 coding documentation, "Clerical and kindred workers, n.e.c."](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/OCC1950), IPUMS / Minnesota Population Center
2. [Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Ch. D (Labor)](https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1975/compendia/hist_stats_colonial-1970/hist_stats_colonial-1970p1-chD.pdf), US Census Bureau
3. [BLS Bulletin 1312 — "Tomorrow's Manpower Needs" (1969): growth in clerical occupations 1950–1965](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/monthly-labor-review-47), Bureau of Labor Statistics / FRASER
4. [BLS — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: History of the OEWS program](https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/oews/history.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
6. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
7. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada
8. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 4150, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2002](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2002/2002-table-14.zip), [2006](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2006consistentw_007methodology/2006-table-14.zip), [2010](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2010revised/2010-revised-table-14.zip)
9. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 4159, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip), [2022](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip), [2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2025provisional/ashetable142025provisional.zip)
10. [ABS: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, table EQ08 (Employed persons by Occupation unit group, ANZSCO 2013), latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-detailed/latest-release), Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Wage series

11. [Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Ch. D, Series D 787 (Clerical workers in manufacturing and steam railroads). Average annual earnings; covers the manufacturing + rail clerical subset.](https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1975/compendia/hist_stats_colonial-1970/hist_stats_colonial-1970p1-chD.pdf), US Census Bureau (Lebergott via BLS bulletins)
12. [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 1988-89: median annual earnings of full-time general office clerks were about $14,700 in 1986 (middle 50% $11,500 to $19,800).](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/occupational-outlook-handbook-3964/occupational-outlook-handbook-1988-89-edition-583131/fulltext), BLS-CPS
13. [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook 1992-93: median annual earnings of full-time general office clerks were about $16,800 in 1990 (middle 50% $13,400 to $21,600).](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/occupational-outlook-handbook-3964/clerical-administrative-support-occupations-583156/fulltext), BLS-CPS
14. [U.S. Census 2000, Earnings by Detailed Occupation (Table 2): Office Clerks, General, year-round full-time median earnings $24,713 for 1999.](https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/2000/earnings-occupation/call2usboth.csv), CENSUS
15. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
16. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
17. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2016, Table 98-400-X2016356 (Occupation by employment income statistics, NOC 2016), income reference year 2015](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/98-400-X2016356), Statistics Canada
18. [Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021, Table 98-10-0586 (Employment income statistics by occupation unit group, NOC 2021), income reference year 2020](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810058601), Statistics Canada
19. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 4150, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2002](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2002/2002-table-14.zip), [2006](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2006consistentw_007methodology/2006-table-14.zip), [2010](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2010revised/2010-revised-table-14.zip)
20. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 4159, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip), [2022](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip), [2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2025provisional/ashetable142025provisional.zip)
21. [Jobs and Skills Australia: General Clerks (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025)](https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-and-industry-profiles/occupations/5311-general-clerks), Jobs and Skills Australia / Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Tool eras

22. [Melville, Herman — "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" (Putnam's Monthly Magazine, Nov-Dec 1853)](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231), Project Gutenberg
23. [Library of Congress — "This Month in Business History: Typewriter Production Begins"](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/march/typewriter-production-began), Library of Congress
24. [Sholes and Glidden typewriter — Wikipedia (commercial history)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter), Wikipedia
25. [History of Information — "Dorr E. Felt Invents the Comptometer" (1887)](https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=642), History of Information
26. [Smithsonian Magazine — "Watch the Original 1959 Ad for the First Office-Ready Xerox Machine"](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/watch-original-1959-ad-first-office-ready-xerox-machine-180962012/), Smithsonian
27. [Wikipedia — Xerox 914 (commercial history and impact)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_914), Wikipedia
28. [IBM — "The IBM 1401" (company history, product page)](https://www.ibm.com/history/1401), IBM
29. [Computer History Museum — IBM 1401 Demo Lab exhibit](https://computerhistory.org/exhibits/ibm1401/), Computer History Museum
30. [Wikipedia — IBM Personal Computer (history, August 12, 1981 launch)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer), Wikipedia
31. [Wikipedia — WordPerfect (history and decline)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPerfect), Wikipedia
32. [Lookeen — History of Microsoft Outlook](https://lookeen.com/blog/the-origin-development-and-history-of-outlook), Lookeen
33. [Wikipedia — SAP R/3 (history)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_S/4HANA), Wikipedia
34. [UiPath — Company history and RPA platform (product page)](https://www.uipath.com/about-us), UiPath
35. [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Office Clerks, General: employment outlook 2024-2034](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/general-office-clerks.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
36. [Microsoft Blog — "Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot" (March 16, 2023)](https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/16/introducing-microsoft-365-copilot-your-copilot-for-work/), Microsoft
37. [Anthropic Economic Index, January 2026 report: Office and Administrative Support tasks matched 13% of sampled first-party API transcripts (November 2025)](https://www.anthropic.com/research/anthropic-economic-index-january-2026-report), Anthropic
38. [CNBC — Goldman Sachs report: office and administrative support has highest AI automation exposure at 46%](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/28/ai-automation-could-impact-300-million-jobs-heres-which-ones.html), Goldman Sachs / CNBC
39. [WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 — clerical/secretarial workers second-fastest-declining cluster globally](https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/), World Economic Forum

### Forecasts and exposure studies

40. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 43-9061 Office clerks, general (2025: 2,600.0 thousand; 2035: 2,443.7 thousand; -6.0%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=43-9061&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
41. [Briggs & Kodnani, "The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth", Goldman Sachs Global Economics Analyst (26 March 2023), Exhibit 5 (US): office and administrative support 46%](https://www.gspublishing.com/content/research/en/reports/2023/03/27/d64e052b-0f6e-45d7-967b-d7be35fabd16.pdf), Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
42. [Frey & Osborne (2013), "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?", Appendix (SOC 43-9061 Office Clerks, General: probability 0.96, rank 629 of 702)](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
43. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 43-9061.00, human-rated β 0.5)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

44. [Wikipedia — Bartleby, the Scrivener (publication history)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby,_the_Scrivener), Wikipedia
45. [Library of Congress — "This Month in Business History: Typewriter Production Begins"](https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/march/typewriter-production-began), Library of Congress
46. [History of Information — "Dorr E. Felt Invents the Comptometer"](https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=642), History of Information
47. [IBM — "The IBM 1401" (company history)](https://www.ibm.com/history/1401), IBM
48. [BLS — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: History of the OEWS program](https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/oews/history.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
49. [Frey & Osborne (2013) "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?"](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/future-of-employment.pdf), Oxford Martin School
50. [OpenAI: "Introducing ChatGPT" (November 30, 2022)](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/), OpenAI

### Predecessors & successors

51. [Project Gutenberg — Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener" (1853): portrait of the pre-typewriter copying clerk](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231), Project Gutenberg
52. [IPUMS USA — OCC1950 "Clerical and kindred workers, n.e.c." coding documentation](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/OCC1950), IPUMS / Minnesota Population Center
53. [History of Information — "Dorr E. Felt Invents the Comptometer" (1887)](https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=642), History of Information

### Present-day analysis

- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Office Clerks, General: –5% employment 2023-2033](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/office-clerks-general.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Office Clerks, General (43-9061.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/43-9061.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 — clerical and secretarial workers: second-fastest-declining cluster; 19M roles projected displaced by 2027](https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Robert Half 2026 Administrative & Customer Support Salary Guide — Office Clerk hiring velocity and salary range](https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/salary-guide/administrative-and-customer-service), accessed 2026-06-22
- [Microsoft — Copilot agentic experiences for email and calendar: April 2026 release](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/outlook/copilot-in-outlook-new-agentic-experiences-for-email-and-calendar/4499798), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Hyperscience — IDP platform achieves 95%+ accuracy on office forms, invoices, and structured documents (2025)](https://www.hyperscience.ai/platform/hypercell/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Rossum — Intelligent document processing for business forms and invoices: automated data extraction and routing (2025)](https://rossum.ai/platform/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [UiPath — Office automation RPA: data entry bots, cross-system copy-paste, PDF-to-ERP population (2025)](https://www.uipath.com/solutions/department/finance-and-accounting-automation), accessed 2026-06-22
- [Microsoft — Power Automate: no-code/low-code RPA for automating repetitive office data entry tasks (2025)](https://powerautomate.microsoft.com/en-us/robotic-process-automation/), accessed 2026-05-23

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.