Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CR

File Clerks

File correspondence, cards, invoices, receipts, and other records in alphabetical or numerical order or according to the filing system used. Locate and remove material from file when requested.

Also called: Clerk, File Clerk, Office Assistant, Records Clerk, Claims Clerk, Clerk Typist, Documentation Specialist, Medical Records Clerk.

O*NET 43-4071.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $43,600; Middle half earn $36,420 to $51,770. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree; 38% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 2 of 5; Some preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
Keep records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generate computerized reports.
Input data, such as file numbers, new or updated information, or document information codes into computer systems to support document and information retrieval.
Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees.
Complete general financial activities, such as processing accounts payable, reviewing invoices, collecting cash payments, or issuing receipts.
Track materials removed from files to ensure that borrowed files are returned.
Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users.
Add new material to file records or create new records as necessary.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
Active Listening3.4 / 5
Speaking3.3 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administrative4.5 / 5
English Language4.3 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.2 / 5
Law and Government3.4 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.3 / 5
Telecommunications3.3 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic24
Investigative5
Artistic0
Social17
Enterprising13
Conventional100

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

archivist · DE Archivar/Archivarin · FR archiviste
medical records clerk · DE Krankheitsregister-Dokumentar/Krankheitsregister-Dokumentarin · FR agent du service des dossiers médicaux/agente du service des dossiers médicaux
office clerk · DE Büroassistent/Büroassistentin · FR employé de bureau/employée de bureau
file clerk · DE Dokumentationsfachkraft · FR classeur-archiviste/classeuse-archiviste

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

School secretaries (4213)50,600 employed
Archivists, conservators and curators (2472)17,100 employed
Officers of non-governmental organisations (4113)64,600 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Clerical support workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Clerical support workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€40,035
Austria	€38,296
Germany	€37,844
Netherlands	€35,854
Sweden	€33,483
Ireland	€32,144
Italy	€29,311
France	€25,943
Spain	€22,026
Portugal	€12,602
Poland	€10,250

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.28. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-4071).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test