Economic snapshot of administrative assistants on their day

We’ve written a good bit about executive compensation — and the excesses.

Since today is Administrative Professionals Day — honoring the secretarial employees who work for the execs — here’s a few facts about the people in that field. The numbers come from the International Association of Administrative Professionals and U.S. Labor Department.

– There were 4.2 million administrative assistants and secretaries in the U.S. in 2008. There were another 1.4 million supervisors of those employees.

– It’s a growing field: 362,000 administrative assistant and secretarial positions will be added in the U.S. between 2008 and 2016. That’s growth of 8.5 percent. Also, 82,000 office supervisor positions will be added.

– The average annual earnings for executive secretaries and administrative assistants was $40,030 in 2008.

– But average starting salaries are expected to fall by 3.7 percent for administrative assistants in 2010.

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