Word Processors and Typists
Use word processor, computer, or typewriter to type letters, reports, forms, or other material from rough draft, corrected copy, or voice recording. May perform other clerical duties as assigned.
35,010 people do this job in the US. $49,280 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 77%
- 0%
- 23%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 7%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 62%. Today's estimate: 67%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 19 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type correspondence, reports, text and other written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings, dictation, or previous versions, using a computer, word processor, or typewriter.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 22% | 50 min13 min to 3.3 h | 69%Half by now | |
| Work with technical material, preparing statistical reports, planning and typing statistical tables, and combining and rearranging material from different sources.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Electronically sort and compile text and numerical data, retrieving, updating, and merging documents as required.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 10% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Check completed work for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 8% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | 96%Half by now | |
| Perform other clerical duties, such as answering telephone, sorting and distributing mail, running errands or sending faxes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Use data entry devices, such as optical scanners, to input data into computers for revision or editing.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Reformat documents, moving paragraphs or columns.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 1.4 h | 95%Half by now | |
| File and store completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve, update, and delete documents.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%Half by now | |
| Gather, register, and arrange the material to be typed, following instructions.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Print and make copies of work.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 8 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust settings for format, page layout, line spacing, and other style requirements.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%Half by now | |
| Search for specific sets of stored, typed characters to make changes.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 8 min3 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).