May 12, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Office and administrative occupations in 2007

With employment of over 23 million in 2007, office and administrative support occupations is the largest occupational group.

Comparison of employment and mean hourly wages in office and administrative occupations, selected industries, May 2007
[Chart data—TXT]

The office and administrative support group's high employment reflects, in part, its wide distribution across industries.

The industries employing the largest numbers of office and administrative support occupations were finance and insurance, health care and social assistance, and retail trade--each of which employed more than 2.5 million workers in office and administrative support occupations.

In the finance and insurance industry, workers in office and administrative occupations earned $15.36 per hour, and in health care and social assistance these workers earned $14.50 per hour, on average. Mean hourly wages for office and administrative occupations were $11.72 in retail trade.

Mean hourly wages for the office and administrative support group ranged from $18.83 in the utilities sector to $11.60 in accommodation and food services (not shown on chart).

These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics. Learn more in "Occupational Employment and Wages, 2007," news release USDL 08-0620.

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