Table Notes: White Collar Counts (Occupation)

Table Notes on Employment by Occupation

Number of Employed Persons by Occupation
From the 1990 U.S. Census covering employed persons by occupation. This classification system is further descibed in the government's Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.
- Executives
  Number employed as executives, including administrative and managerial occupations. Examples of occupations the Census classifies in this category are public officials and administrators; financial managers, personnel and labor relations managers, purchasing managers; marketing, advertising and public relations managers, education administrators, medicine and health managers, property and real estate managers.
- Professional (also Technical)
  Number employed in professional specialty and technical occupations. Examples of occupations the Census classifies as a professional specialty are architects, engineers, mathematical and computer scientists, physicians, dentists, registered nurses, pharmacists, dieticians, physical and speech therapists, physicians' assistants, college and university teachers, K-12 teachers, educational and vocational counselors, librarians, social scientists and urban planners, social workers, recreation workers, clergy, lawyers and judges, authors, technical writers, designers, musicians and composers, actors and directors, painters and sculptors, photographers, editors and reporters, public relation specialists, announcers, atheletes. Examples of occupations the Census classifies as technical are clinical laboratory technicians, dental hygienists, radiologic technicians, licensed practical nurses, electrical and electronic technicians, drafting occupations, surveying and mapping technicians, biological and chemical technicians, airplane pilots and navigators, computer programmers, and legal assistants.
- Sales
  Number employed in sales occupations. Examples include retail sales representatives, cashiers; insurance, real estates, securities and finance services, and advertising sales representatives; supervisors and proprietors related to sales occupations.
- Administrative Support (including Clerical)
  Number employed in administrative support, including clerical occupations. Examples include secretaries, typists, receptionists, file and other clerks, computer equipment operators, bookkeepers, accounting and auditing clerks, billing clerks; duplicating, mail, and office machine operators, telephone operators, postal clerks, mail carriers, messengers, dispatchers, production coordinators; traffic, shipping, and receiving clerks, stock and inventory clerks; weighers, measurers, and checkers; expediters, insurance adjusters, examiners, and investigators; bill and account collectors, social welfare eligibility clerks, bank tellers, data entry keyers, statistical clerks, teacher aids.
- Service
  Number employed in service occupations. Examples include bartenders, waiters and waitresses, cooks, food counter and kitchen workers; child care workers; janitors, cleaners and servants; police and detectives, firefighters, sheriffs, guards and correctional officers, other law enforcement officers including supervisors; dental assistants, health aides, orderlies, nursing aides and attendants; barbers, hairdressers and cosmetologists, attendants in amusement and recreational facilities, public transportation attendants, welfare service aids, family child-care providers, early childhood teachers' assistants.
- Skilled Craft Workers
  Number employed in precision production, craft and repair occupations. Examples include automobile mechanics, aircraft engine mechanics, data processing equipment repairers, telephone installers and repairers, construction trades including carpenters, extractive occupations, precision production occupations.
- Laborers (also Operators)
  Number employed as operators, fabricators, and laborers. Examples include freight, stock and material handlers, laborers (except construction), truck drivers, industrial truck and tractor operators, textile sewing machine operators, pressing machine operators, fabricators, assemblers and handworking occupations, production inspectors, testers, samplers, and weighers.
- Farmers (also Forestry, Fishing)
  Number employed as farm operators and managers, farm workers, forestry and logging occupations, fishers, hunters, and trappers.
Percentage Employed in Each Occupation
Percentage shown was computed by TRAC based upon the total number of employed civilian persons recorded by the 1990 U.S. Census. These figures cover the employed civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and older. A person is classified by the federal government in these counts as "employed" if they are a civilian and during the reference week did any work for pay or profit (minimum of an hour's work), or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family enterprise, or were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent for noneconomic reasons (illness, weather conditions, vacation, labor-management dispute, etc.) whether they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs. A person is classified as "unemployed" if as a civilian they had no employment during the reference week but made specific efforts to find a job within the previous 4 weeks (such as applying directly to an employer, or to a public employment service, or checking with friends), and who were available for work during that week, except for temporary illness. Persons on layoff from a job and expecting recall are also classified as unemployed. All other civilian persons, 16 years old and over, are classified as "not in the labor force."
Percentile Rank
Computed by TRAC based on the percent employed in each occupation. A rank of 1 indicates that as compared with all counties in the nation, the percentage employed in that occupation ranked in the top one percent. A rank of 100 indicates that the percentage employed ranked in the bottom one percent, as compared with all counties in the nation.
Top 50 and Bottom 50 County Rankings
Computed by TRAC based on the percent employed in each occupation. For the "Top 50" list, a rank of 1 indicates that the percentage employed in that occupation ranked highest among all counties. For the "Bottom 50" list, a rank of 1 indicates that the percentage employed in that occupation ranked at the very bottom among all counties in the nation. Counties had to have at least a population of 100 and an employed civilian labor force of at least 50 persons to be ranked.