A review of shows that 2,298,700 secretaries were employed in 1982, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected a 30.0 percent increase in the number of secretarial jobs by 1995. When compared to “all clerical workers”, “typists”, and “stenographers” this obviously is the largest growth area. In fact, stenographic positions continue to show a decline.
In another set of projections, taken from the spring 1990 Occupational Outlook Quarterly for the period from 1988 to 2000, employment for secretaries (except legal and medical) will increase over 13 percent, or 385,000 workers. Medical secretaries will jump by 58 percent, or 120,000 workers, and paralegals by 75 percent, or 62,000 workers. Secretarial is the largest female-intensive occupational category-with 3.2 million workers, or 23.5 percent of all administrative support workers.
It is good news to read that forecasts continue to reflect secretarial job opportunities. There is also a shortage of highly qualified secretaries, which means that applicants with good personal and technical skills will be in demand. If you are looking for an entry-level job, the percentage of individuals with no experience in the occupation is a good indicator. Of the 543,000 total entrants as secretaries during 1986, a whopping 64 percent had no previous secretarial experience?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the largest increase in employment in the nation will continue to be in the service-producing sector, of which the health care industries will account for 18 percent, or 3.1 million, of total job growth from 1988 to 2000 and business services, 16 percent, or 2.7 million.
In New York City alone during the decade of the 1980s, jobs in the health services rose by 60,000, a 33 percent increase, or approximately four times the rate of job growth in the rest of the private sector. Hospitals accounted for 21,400 openings, and offices and clinics of health practitioners for an additional 14,100.
In the business sector, industries expected to grow rapidly are personnel supply services, which include temporary help agencies; computer and data processing services; and research, management, and consulting. In personnel services, the temporary help services industry has grown considerably, generating many jobs. Secretaries are needed in every phase of business, including banks, insurance companies, investment and real estate firms, law firms, educational institutions, as well as in federal, state, and local government agencies. Obviously, employment will increase for all secretaries, including medical.
Besides working in a full-time job, extensive opportunities for temporary or part-time secretarial employment are available. During a period of shortage of qualified secretaries as well as during peak business periods, or during a recession, employers are especially receptive to hiring such personnel.
If you wish to find work overseas, don't become overly optimistic because such jobs are not as plentiful or as attainable. The best approach to finding such a job is to become employed by the corporate headquarters of an international firm in the United States and then work towards this goal. You should also be aware that some countries place limitations on number and types of jobs that can be filled by foreigners and that the wages earned are frequently lower than comparable jobs in the States.
What you need to be aware of as you plan your career is that the fast pace of automation will continue to lead to a restructuring of departments and may change the way and by whom duties are performed. However, personal skills that are essential to a job cannot be assumed by automated equipment.
According to the National Institute of Business Management, 'the 1990s promises to be the Decade of the Secretary. . . . Estimates for competent, effective secretaries will surge 45 per cent by 1996. Those already in the secretarial field will find their experience a highly valuable commodity.'
Secretarial Occupations In Canada
Like that of the United States, Canada's economy is dominated by the service sector, thus accounting for the largest increase in jobs. The four occupations for which the demand for skilled workers will be highest are managerial/administrative, services, sales, and clerical. The employment outlook for secretaries, a predominantly female occupation, indicates average growth over the next eight years.
Employment is steady all year, with one job in five being a part-time job. In terms of geographic distribution of employment, Ontario is on top with 37.2 percent and Quebec is second in rank with 30.2 percent.
Male-Female Employment Trends In Secretarial Work
As we look ahead to the next century, the civilian labor force in the United States is expected to reach 141.1 million, which represents a 16 percent increase. There will be a dramatic increase in the participation rates of women, who are expected to comprise over half of all entrants. The major change will be reflected in the demographics of the working population. The number of women in the labor force will increase faster than men, workers in the 25-to 54-year-old age group will increase while the 16- to 24-year-old age group will decline, and minorities and immigrants will account for one-third of all labor force entrants by 2000.
Two out of three new entrants to the labor force by the year 2000 will be women, comprising more than 47 percent of the work force. The secretarial field is one of the largest, and 1988 statistics indicate that secretaries held 3,372,000 jobs. A 1989 survey of newspaper help-wanted secretarial ads, published in the journal From Nine to Five, revealed that the number of ads in the United States went up by 23.6 percent while in Canada, the increase was 51.6 percent.
With the changes that are occurring, there appears to be a blurring of the traditional demarcation between jobs for men and women. Is this a reality in secretarial employment, a predominately female-intensive occupation? Although we cannot respond positively that the numbers of men have increased substantially in this field, we can state that more men are enrolling in secretarial curricula. This might be the result of variations in department names to reflect the nature of the field and changing responsibilities of secretarial personnel. Some new titles are: Department of Office Technology, Office and Systems Administration, and Department of Secretarial and Office Information Systems. Men are gradually becoming attracted to this career because of the changing work environment and the diverse opportunities that exist.
Many men who are secretaries work with dynamic business and professional people, often within the medical, legal, entertainment, and publishing environments. A 1989 study of 50 male PSI (Professional Secretaries International) secretaries revealed the following reasons men pursued the secretarial field: personal motives and goals more important than money; opportunities are nationwide and in a wide variety of industries; stereotypes are disappearing and discrimination toward nontraditional workers is minimal; job scope of secretaries revolves around high technology and includes challenging responsibilities; and secretarial work is fulfilling and rewarding. An interesting finding is that more men chose secretarial work as a career (40 percent) for its own sake rather than as a stepping-stone to management (32 percent). Per-haps by the next century substantial numbers of men will be employed as secretaries.
Alternative Work Patterns
The size of the women's labor force is continuing to rise and by 1995 it is expected to reach 59.9 million; in 1984 it was only 49.7 million. Over the next decade, women will account for over 80 percent of the new entrants in the work force. Another factor of importance is that women are now interested in lifelong careers.
The data indicate that four out of five working women are employed full time. They also account for the rapid increase in the number of multiple jobholders. What do these changes in life styles, values, and social patterns mean in terms of employment?
First, office automation has impacted work schedules and office procedures, resulting in many innovative work patterns. Second, since women have the needed skills and productive capacity to help support the country's economic growth, business has had to respond to their needs by establishing alternative work patterns that would spur recruitment, improve morale, and reduce absenteeism and turnover. These alternative patterns include flextime scheduling, telecommuting, and job sharing.
Part-Time Work
Part-time workers are the largest group of employees performing less than full-time responsibilities. Generally, these workers are students, young people not ready for full-time commitments, or mature individuals with family responsibilities. Opportunities for employment in secretarial positions as part-timers continue to increase, for employers see the benefits in reduced labor costs and flexibility in hiring staff when needed. Kelly Services of Troy, Michigan, and Manpower Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two of the largest sources of part-timers, report that the need for part-timers has grown so fast that they cannot fill temporary job openings readily.
Temporary Employment
If you are looking for challenge and excitement and want to become acquainted with different kinds of companies, temporary employment might be an approach you should investigate. Each day is different, for you never know what you are getting into. According to the National Association of Temporary Services, one in every 104 positions in the United States is filled by a temporary employee. Temporary help is becoming an efficient business practice that is used by nearly all businesses, and 1,000,000 people work in this capacity each day. A 10 percent growth rate occurred in temporary work during the past three years. ? A 1987 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of 600,000 workers revealed wide variations in pay. Executive secretaries averaged $7.79 an hour; word processors, $9.46; and typists, $5.97.
Two new trends in staffing the office are outsourcing and employee leasing. Outsourcing (sometimes referred to as payrolling) is a trend whereby you hire the individual you need on a contract basis. It is used when a customer has a special skill need. He or she recruits and screens the applicant and then has the temporary agency employ this person for assignment to the customer. In leasing, a long-term permanent arrangement, the customer leases the employee from the outsourcing firm, which is the employer. The advantage of these two trends is that the customer never handles payroll, taxes, insurance benefits, vacations, or other administrative items. The employee leasing industry grew from 4,000 leased employees in 1983 to 750,000 by the end of 1990 and is expected to reach 10 million in five years?
Flextime
Flextime, a concept in scheduling daily work hours for full-time employees, is receiving favorable acceptance in many companies and continues to be adopted throughout the country, There are variations of flextime scheduling; however, personnel usually work during a core period each day. From options established by management, workers select the time that completes a day's productivity. For example, employees might have the choice of arriving at work between 6:30 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. and leaving between 3:00 P.M. and 6:30 P.M. Thus, employees have some control over their workday. Occasionally, a company will offer a four-day work week that narrows down to a 10-hour day.
Flextime has resulted in positive effects on employee attitudes, and sick leave is less abused. A recent business survey indicated that more firms are adopting flextime scheduling. They claim it increases efficiency and morale and decreases absenteeism and turnover. One can assume from this finding that as personnel satisfaction increases, company image is improved. This gives a firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Productivity usually is maintained or increased, and many employee benefits are realized. Although flextime was originally designed for lower-level employees, findings of a recent study indicate that 47 of 50 Fortune 500 organizations are now extending this work pattern to managers and professional employees.
Telecommuting
Telecommuting also referred to as the electronic cottage, initially involved people working at home or at a satellite office on a computer or terminal and communicating by phone to the home office. This concept has been broadened and includes those individuals who work out of a customer's office or who communicate with the office via laptop or mobile telephone. Interestingly, Alvin Toffler in 1980 in his book The Third Wave predicted that millions of Americans would establish automated work centers in their homes. His predictions became a reality as computers, fax machines, and modems became accessible in terms of pricing, and America grew into an information-based society.
Is the office becoming obsolete? While we may never witness its complete extinction, there is every reason to believe that there will be a substantial reduction in the physical office. Increasing numbers of employees work at home. Approximately 350 firms in the United States have a telecommuting program that involves a few to 100 or more employees. Some of the companies that have successful programs are IBM, Xerox, American Express, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and J.C. Penney."? Figures reflect that approximately 3.4 million workers established work-at-home areas to use periodically or after hours rather than on a daily basis,
One health-related facility implemented a telecommuting program because it became increasingly difficult to find qualified medical secretaries. Management worked out a program whereby physicians dictated over the telephone to a central system, secretaries accessed the information through telephone lines, and the documents were transcribed on word processing equipment. At a scheduled time each evening, the day's work was transmitted back on communication lines to the clinic where it was printed.
Of course, there are many concerns about whether telecommuting will really work in the long run because employees cannot develop a "sense of belonging" that fulfills psychological needs, nor can they be part of the informal interaction in the office. Another disadvantage to telecommuting is the lack of daily support services of the secretary; therefore, planning time which previously took approximately three days now might take three weeks. Much time is lost in handling many details of daily procedures in the office.
Job Sharing
Another alternative to full-time employment is job sharing where two people assume responsibilities for a job. They divide the work between them and arrange their own schedules to provide full-time coverage on the job. Job sharing differs from part-time work in which an individual is an independent employee who has the sole responsibility for a particular job. Advocates of nontraditional work groups point out several ad vantages of job sharing:
- Job sharers are interested in careers and advancement.
- Productivity will probably increase because of greater job satisfaction, more concentrated effort, and lower rate of absenteeism and turnover.
- Coverage can be arranged during peak periods or absenteeism due to sickness.
- Greater continuity occurs in job performance. If one of the job sharers leaves the job, the partner can usually fill in while a new person is being trained.
Although many employers have expressed resistance to such programs, others endorse the concept and have initiated it.
