Office automation: New arena for old struggle

Office work accounts for one-half of the total employment in the United States. In 1978 there were 15.6 million professional and technical workers, 8.8 million managers and administrators, 6.4 million salesworkers, and 17.8 million clerical workers, for a grand total of 48.6 million white-collar employees constituting 49.8 percent of all workers. 1 The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an increase in this category of at least 24.9 percent, compared with 18.6 percent for blue-collar workers, 31.4 percent for service workers, and a decline of about 21 percent for farm workers. Although service occupations are expected to be the fastest growing occupational group during 1978-1990, the largest number of new jobs will occur in the white- and blue-collar categories. The former is expected to increase by 12.1 to 16.1 million jobs; the latter by 5.9 to 8.9 million.