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Clerical Occupations, General Office Skills
What they do?
General office clerks key in, edit, proofread, and finalize reports/correspondence. They attend to phone, electronic, and counter questions; open/sort mail, by hand or by computer; and perform other routine office duties.
A. Word processors use word-processing programs to format/type documents. They also proofread documents and perform other duties such as photocopying/filing.
B. Records clerks process, code, classify, store, and retrieve documents using computerized or manual information retrieval systems.
C. Health records technicians classify, code, cross-reference, and store health records/related data in hospitals, clinics, and other health care institutions.
D. Receptionists greet people, schedule appointments, provide information, and perform related clerical duties.
Where they find work?
1. Health care and social assistance - 17.0%
2. Public administration - 14.0%
3. Finance and insurance - 8.0%
4. Retail trade - 6.0%
5. Wholesale trade - 5.0%
6. Educational services - 5.0%
7. Administrative and support waste management and remediation services - 5.0%
What education do I need?
1. In general, you need a high school diploma and may need to complete additional training related to your area of work.
2. To be a health records technician, you need a two- to three-year college or other program in health records management and certification from the Canadian Health Record Association which allows you to work in all provinces/territories.
3. To be a receptionist, you may need to be bilingual or multilingual to perform your duties.
4. Most recent entrants have a community college diploma, and almost 3 in 10 have an undergraduate unversity degree
High School Subject that will help:
1. Math
2. Computer Basics - Word and Excel
3. English
What can you expect to make:
The average hourly wages for Clerical Occupations, General Office Skills is $13.53/HR, which is below average for occupations in the business, finance and administration sector and are below average for all intermediate occupations. These wages grew at an average rate from 2002 to 2004.
Average Wage
Expected Wage by Age
Unemployment:
5% of Clerical Occupations, General Office Skills are unemployed. This rate is close to the average for intermediate occupations.
Unemployment
Trends in Unemployment
Current Job Outlook:
The job outlook for Clerical Occupations, General Office Skills is considered Below Average because:
1. Employment grew at an average rate.
2. Hourly wages ($13.53) are below the average ($18.07), and the rate of the wage growth is close to the average.
3. The unemployment rate (5%) is close to the 2004 average (7%).
Future Job Prospects:
Your job outlook will continue to be Below Average because:
1. The employment growth rate will likely be below average because new technologies/office automation should allow companies to do more with fewer workers.
2. Although the retirement rate will likely be average, the number of retiring workers should contribute to job openings.
3. The number of job seekers will likely match the number of job openings.
Highest Concetration:
The highest concentrations (per 10,000 people) of Clerical Occuaptions, General Office Skills are found in Alberta and Manitoba while the lowest concentrations are in Quebec and Newfoundland.
Unionization Rate:
The unionization rate (26%) is close to the average (32%) for all occupations.
Useful Experience:
1. Computer literacy
2. Team work
3. Organizing/retrieving information
Part Time Workers
Part time workers:
29% of Clerical Occupations, General Office Skills are employed only on a part-time basis. There were 259,600 workers employed in these occupations in 2004, a decrease of 34% since 1997.
Age Demographics
Age Demographics:
The retirement rate to 2009 will likely be average reflecting the age/retirement structure of the occupation.
