OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Perform duties too varied and diverse to be classified in any specific office clerical occupation, requiring knowledge of office systems and procedures. Clerical duties may be assigned in accordance with the office procedures of individual establishments and may include a combination of answering telephones, bookkeeping, typing or word processing, office machine operation, and filing.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
General office clerks typically do the following:
- Answer and transfer telephone calls or take messages
- Sort and deliver incoming mail and send outgoing mail
- Schedule appointments and receive customers or visitors
- Provide general information to staff, clients, or the public
- Type, format, or edit routine memos or other reports
- Copy, file, and update paper and electronic documents
- Prepare and process bills and other office documents
- Collect information and perform data entry
Rather than performing a single specialized task, general office clerks have responsibilities that often change daily with the current needs of the employer.
Some clerks file documents or answer phones; others enter data into computers or perform other tasks using software applications. They also frequently use photocopiers, scanners, fax machines, and other office equipment.
The specific duties assigned to clerks will depend on the type of office in which they work. For example, a general office clerk at a college or university may process application materials and answer questions from prospective students, while a clerk at a hospital may file and retrieve medical records.
Salary
Median salary: $35,330 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $27,570 and $45,480.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for general office clerks
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About General Office Clerks
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of general office clerks who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Time Pressure (66%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (37%)
- High Conflict Frequency (33%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of General Office Clerks? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Customer-service skills
General office clerks often provide general information to company staff, customers, or the public. They should be courteous and prompt with their responses.
Detail oriented
General office clerks perform many clerical tasks that require attention to detail, such as preparing bills.
Organizational skills
General office clerks file and retrieve records. They need to keep records organized to be able to access them quickly and efficiently.
Injury and Illness
About 14 general office clerks become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, which reflects fewer events than in 50% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
All multiple traumatic injuries
Bruises and contusions
All cuts, lacerations, punctures
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by general office clerks
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), general office clerks typically hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as general office clerks as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for general office clerks
General office clerks usually need a high school diploma or equivalent.
Courses in using computer applications, such as word processing and spreadsheet software, may be helpful for those who aren’t already familiar with them.
Education level of General Office Clerks
Only 22% of general office clerks have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by general office clerks
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of General Office Clerks per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most general office clerks? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as general office clerks. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where general office clerks earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for general office clerks compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for general office clerks.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which general office clerks earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for General Office Clerks (ACS)
Employment
28% of General office clerks are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 28% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 81% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of general office clerks by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
General office clerks and gender
With 82% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 92% of careers.
Gender of General office clerks
Men (18%)
Women (82%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for general office clerks, with the
median salary for men 12%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of General office clerks
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as General office clerks.
Race/origin of general office clerks
White (70% )
Black (14% )
Asian (6% )
Other (5% )
Multiracial (2% )
Hispanic (2% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
