Office Clerks, General - O*NET Files on Education, Training, and Experience

The O*NET contains data that it does not report in the O*NET OnLine.  The results of incumbent and analyst reviews of education, training, and experience are a point of data that is not reported in O*NET OnLine.  We use that data to dissect the question of how many unskilled general office clerks exist in the national economy.  We start the process of counting jobs with the course of administrative notice, the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

43-9061 Office clerks, general

Typical Education Needed	High school diploma or equivalent
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
Typical On-The-Job Training Needed to Attain Competency	Short-term on-the-job training
2016 Employment	3,117,700

We looked at the occupational base from skill and exertion levels for general office clerks.  We reduced the number of jobs from the based based on a limited education for general office clerks.  Now we turn to the O*NET data:

On-the-Job Training:  Office Clerks, General		# of Jobs
Description	Percent	3,117,700
None or short demonstration	4.85%	151,208
Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month	27.91%	870,150
Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months	31.77%	990,493
Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months	27.21%	848,326
Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year	6%	187,062
Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years	2.17%	67,654
Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years	0.08%	2,494

The 32.76% of unskilled work based on training time compares reasonably to the 35.3% reported by the ORS.

Education:  Office Clerks, General		# of Jobs
Description	Percent	3,117,700
Less than a High School Diploma	1.50%	46,766
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	40.59%	1,265,474
Post-Secondary Certificate	6.52%	203,274
Some College Courses	14.74%	459,549
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree)	36.41%	1,135,155
Bachelor's Degree	0.24%	7,482

This data presents a significantly different picture than the ORS.  Employers report 12.9% of jobs do not require a high school education or equivalent.  The O*NET reports less than a high school diploma in 1.5% of jobs.

On-Site or In-Plant Training:  Office Clerks, General		# of Jobs
Description	Percent	3,117,700
None	25.25%	787,219
Up to and including 1 month	43.07%	1,342,793
Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months	9.19%	286,517
Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months	14.68%	457,678
Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year	1.96%	61,107
Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years	4.80%	149,650
Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years	1.06%	33,048

The data for on-sit or in-plant training is not inconsistent with the on-the-job training data if jobs require pre-employment experience for semi-skilled or skilled positions.

Related Work Experience:  Office Clerks, General		# of Jobs
Description	Percent	3,117,700
None	7.72%	240,686
Up to and including 1 month	1.14%	35,542
Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months	3.68%	114,731
Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months	23.11%	720,500
Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year	11.42%	356,041
Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years	30.02%	935,934
Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years	19.58%	610,446
Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years	3.33%	103,819

The presence of related work experience would reduce on-site or in-plant training time while leaving intact the general requirement for skill level.

The first and most important factor to remember is that this O*NET data is based on incumbent surveys.  Some O*NET data are based on analyst data.  The education, training, and experience data for this occupation is based on incumbents.  ORS data is based on employer or human resources surveys.  Neither data set is generally the product of detailed analysis by a vocational expert or analyst.