November 26, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Office, administrative support largest occupation

The major occupational group with the largest employment in 2000 was office and administrative support occupations, such as secretaries, clerks, and customer service representatives, with almost 18 percent of total employment.

[Chart data—TXT]

The next largest groups, both accounting for about 10 percent of the total, were sales and related occupations and production occupations such as assemblers, machine tenders, and inspectors. These were followed by food preparation and serving-related occupations and transportation and material moving occupations, each with between 7 and 8 percent of total employment.

Together, these five major occupational groups accounted for about half of total employment in 2000.

The BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program produced these data. The data refer to the employment of wage and salary workers. Find more information on employment by occupation in 2000 in "Occupational Employment and Wages, 2000," news release USDL 01-415.