Typist
Also called phonotypist, audio typist, clerk typist
Typists operate computers to type and revise documents and compile material to be typed, such as correspondence, reports, statistical tables, forms, and audios. They read instructions accompanying material or follow verbal instructions to determine requirements such as number of copies needed, priority and desired format.
What you'd do
Typists and word processing operators · ILO- Typing written material from rough drafts, corrected copies, voice recordings or shorthand using a computer, word processor or typewriter
- Checking completed work for proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting
- Gathering and arranging the material to be typed, following instructions
- Filing and storing completed documents on computer hard drive or disk, or maintain a computer filing system to store, retrieve or update documents
- Taking dictation and recording other matter in shorthand
- Reproducing the spoken word, environmental sounds and song lyrics as captions for cinema and television programming
- Transcribing information recorded in shorthand and on sound recording equipment
- Indoors
- Sitting most of the day
- Constant contact with people, including the public
- Some freedom to decide
- Usually 40 hours a week
- Deadlines most weeks
- Very repetitive tasks
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,100 a month (Bulgaria) to €5,200 (Luxembourg), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among clerical support workers in the EU, women earn 9% less per hour than men. Clerical support workers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
StronglyAI could take on part of most tasks, but none fully.
Average task score 0.65 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 7 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for typists and word processing operators. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).