18.5 million office and administrative support jobs in May 2023, 12.2 percent of total employment

Office and administrative support was the largest occupational group in May 2023, with about 18.5 million jobs. The largest office and administrative support occupations were customer service representatives (2.9 million), general office clerks (2.5 million), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (1.8 million).

Office and administrative support occupations had an annual mean wage of $47,940, below the U.S. mean wage of $65,470 for all occupations. Only two office and administrative support occupations had above-average wages: executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($73,680) and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($68,620). The lowest paying office and administrative support occupations were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($32,570) and clerical library assistants ($35,970).

More than 960,000 office and administrative support jobs were found in local government, excluding schools and hospitals. After local government, the industries with the largest employment in office and administrative support occupations were credit intermediation and related activities (842,450) and offices of physicians (759,630).

Office and administrative support occupations made up 87.3 percent of employment in the U.S. Postal Service, compared with 12.2 percent of overall employment. Three occupations specific to the postal service are in this occupational group: postal service clerks; postal service mail carriers; and postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators. Also among the industries with the highest concentrations of office and administrative support workers were business support services (which includes call centers, document preparation services, and collection agencies), with 59.4 percent of employment in these occupations, and freight transportation arrangement, with 47.8 percent.

Several of the highest paying industries for office and administrative support occupations were related to extracting, transporting, and distributing natural resources, including pipeline transportation of crude oil ($79,030), other pipeline transportation ($76,920), natural gas distribution ($70,650), and metal ore mining ($70,000). The lowest paying industries for this group included personal care services ($33,440), such as hair, nail, and skin care, and rooming and boarding houses, dormitories, and workers' camps ($34,540).

These data are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. To learn more, see "Occupational Employment and Wages — 2023." Also see the May 2023 national occupational employment and wage estimates by industry and the occupational profile for office and administrative support occupations.