Clerical Work and Women's Employment After 1970

Technological changes like automated teller machines (ATMs) and online banking reduced the need for bank tellers, leading to job losses disproportionately affecting women in clerical roles.

While automation led to job losses for women in clerical roles, it simultaneously benefited men who often dominated newly created technical and professional jobs like computer programming.

The proportion of bank workers in clerical jobs declined, while the share in professional jobs increased from 9% to 18%, making bank employees as a group more skilled due to the automation of lower-skilled clerical positions.

The relocation of routinized clerical functions from central cities to suburbs and rural areas decreased local job opportunities for women of color, who are more likely to live in central cities, leading to lengthy reverse commutes.

Employers hoped to draw on the labor supply of white, married, relatively well-educated suburban women, who were seen as the 'ideal' clerical workers, while benefiting from lower land and labor costs in suburban areas.

Public policies that encouraged suburban growth, white flight from cities, and disinvestment in cities, combined with the residential patterns of people of color being more likely to live in central cities, exacerbated the separation of clerical jobs from urban areas.

The relocation of call centers to these areas further distances clerical jobs from corporate front offices and urban centers, potentially exacerbating the challenges faced by urban residents, particularly women of color, in accessing these employment opportunities.

The globalization of services has led to the outsourcing of routinized clerical jobs to countries like India, Jamaica, and Singapore, which have a lower-wage but well-educated, Anglophone workforce.

New jobs have emerged in areas like data processing, call centers, accounting, and computer programming. These jobs often place value on 'people skills' traditionally associated with feminine traits, in contrast to traditional clerical roles.

The relocation of clerical jobs away from central cities, where people of color and low-income populations were more likely to reside, reflected and reinforced existing residential segregation patterns and economic disparities faced by these communities in accessing employment opportunities.