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
|
The need for a high school or
equivalent education fits with understanding of the nature of clerical work. The
education level of incumbents reported by the Employment Projections
illustrates the typicality of reports from the OOH:
Education Levels of Incumbents
43-9061 Office clerks, general
Typical Education Needed
|
High school diploma or equivalent
|
Less than a High School Education
|
3.4
|
High School Education or Equivalent
|
28.8
|
Some College, No Degree
|
31.6
|
Associates Degree
|
13.1
|
Bachelor's Degree
|
18.7
|
Masters's Degree
|
3.4
|
Doctoral or Professional Degree
|
0.8
|
The report of a high school education represents a rough average of less than a high school education, high school education or equivalent, and some college but no degree. This report categorizes education level of incumbents, not necessarily job requirements. The observation that a significant portion of the occupational base has a high school education or equivalent fits with the classification of a typical need for a high school education or equivalent.
The presence of short-term
on-the-job training translates to unskilled work. The OOH glossary defines
short-term on-the-job training as:
1 month or less of combined on-the-job experience and informal training that is needed for the worker to develop skills to attain competency in the occupation, this on-the-job training category also includes employer-sponsored training programs.The presence of an occupational base of 3.1 million jobs requiring a high school education or equivalent and typically unskilled creates a clear basis for a conclusion that a lot of those jobs exists. But we need to focus on not the typical way in which the job is performed but the way in which the jobs are actually performed across the economy. For that we turn to the Occupational Requirements Survey.
43-9061 Office clerks, general
| SVP Calculations | |||
| SVP | Value | Jobs | Calculation |
| SVP 1 | 5.8% | 3,117,700 | 180,827 |
| SVP 2 | 29.5% | 3,117,700 | 919,722 |
| SVP 3 | 7.2% | 3,117,700 | 224,474 |
| SVP 4 | 7.6% | 3,117,700 | 236,945 |
| SVP 5 | 8.6% | 3,117,700 | 268,122 |
| SVP 6 | 19.5% | 3,117,700 | 607,952 |
| SVP 7 | 18.1% | 3,117,700 | 564,304 |
By looking at the specific vocational preparation time as set forth in the ORS, we find that the largest single concentration of jobs is at SVP 2 but the unskilled variety of work still represents less than a third of the total jobs within the classification. Over a million jobs still leaves a lot of work to do in terms of understanding the availability of unskilled work in the economy. The ORS provides detailed information about exertion within the occupational base.
| Strength Calculations | |||
| Strength Type | Value | Jobs | Calculation |
| Sedentary | 32.8% | 3,117,700 | 1,022,606 |
| Light Work | 41% | 3,117,700 | 1,278,257 |
| Medium Work | 25.1% | 3,117,700 | 782,543 |
Sedentary work represents almost a third of the jobs and light work representing over 40 percent of the jobs that all skill levels. One other piece of data is critical for understanding the existence of work that amounts to substantial gainful activity, whether the work is full-time or part-time, For that information, we turn to the O*NET OnLine:
43-9061.00 - Office clerks, general
Duration of Typical Work Week — Number of hours typically worked in one week.
|
26
|
Less Than 40 Hours
|
15
|
40 Hours
| |
59
|
More Than 40 Hours
|
Slightly more than a quarter of the jobs are not full-time work and therefore do not presumptively represent substantial gainful activity. Since we are looking for the existence of unskilled work that exists in the national economy and represents presumptive substantial gainful activity, we can synthesize these three data reports:
2016 Employment
|
% Unskilled
|
# Unskilled
|
3,117,700
|
35.30%
|
1,100,548
|
# Unskilled
|
% Full-Time
|
# Full-Time
|
1,100,548
|
74%
|
814,406
|
# Full-Time
|
% Sedentary
|
# Sedentary
|
814,406
|
32.80%
|
267,125
|
# Full-Time
|
% Light
|
# Light
|
814,406
|
41%
|
333,906
|
# Full-Time
|
% Medium
|
# Medium
|
814,406
|
25.10%
|
204,416
|
From this data, it is now possible to examine the impact of exertional limitations on sitting (the median requires more than six hours per day of sitting), the sit stand option at will (79.9% of jobs permit sitting versus standing/walking at will), and limited standing (90% of jobs do not require standing/walking more than 50% of the day). The ORS provides a basis for reducing the number of jobs available based on reaching overhead (47.7% with most of those bilaterally); frequent gross manipulation ( 19.9%); frequent fine manipulation (6.9%); or frequent reaching at or below shoulder level (16.2%).
The most fertile ground for reducing the number of jobs available is based on the social requirements of work. General office clerks require coordinating with regular contacts (62.8% of jobs) or gentle persuading (6%). Those limitations would preclude jobs for an individual limited to simple contact with coworkers and supervisors. General office clerks have continuous contact with "other contacts" (10.1%); more than once per hour (27.3%); and more than once per day (30.7%).
Other limitations could also significantly impact the number of jobs available for an individual limited to sedentary, light, or medium work where relevant. The limitations in sitting, standing, walking, manipulation, or social contact are provided here as examples of data available in the ORS and OccuCollect.com.
