Acknowledgments

Photographs used in this report were furnished through the courtesy of the following:

Bank of America (fig. 3-B);

Burroughs Corporation (fig. 3-A);

Methodist Board of Education (fig. 2).

iv

Introduction

the Clerical Field

The typewriter and other machines for store and office use have revolutionized office and recordkeeping work in business within a single lifetime. They perform feats of recording, copying, calculating, coding, and tabulating that could not possibly be done "by hand" in the same period of time. It is evident that today's high economic and cultural levels could not have been reached-nor could they be maintained-without them.

One result of the general use of typewriters, office machines, and cash registers is that entirely new and expanded areas of employment have opened up. Increasing numbers of girls and women have acquired the necessary skills and are working in offices, stores, and service industries throughout the country.

Jobs in which shorthand and typing skills are basic requirements are discussed in part 1 of this report. Secretarial work, stenography, and typing, as well as various combination jobs and specializations, are included in this group. Jobs involving the operation of certain other types of office machines such as bookkeeping, calculating, keypunch, and tabulating machines-and the cashier's job are covered in part 2.

It is not within the scope of this report to cover all the occupations in which typing is useful. Many clerical jobs, not covered here, combine typing with other duties; for example, file clerks, general clerks, receptionists, and telephone or "switchboard" operators. In addition, typing skill is very useful, and to some degree necessary, in certain jobs outside the clerical field. In newspaper work, for example, reporters customarily type their own stories. College graduates often seek entry jobs in professional and administrative fields where, during their training for higher-level positions, they perform a variety of clerical duties which require the use of typewriters and other office machines.

Secretarial work is often regarded by college women as a stepping stone to professional or administrative work-in a publishing house, advertising agency, or other business establishment. A survey of women graduated from college in June 1955, made by the Women's Bureau in cooperation with the National Vocational Guidance Association, found that about 1 in 12 of the employed graduates held a secretarial or stenographic job.