Executive Administrative Assistants

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

Standard Occupational Classification #43-6011 Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants

SOC Definition--Provide high-level administrative support by conducting research, preparing statistical reports, handling information requests, and performing clerical functions such as preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, and scheduling meetings. May also train and supervise lower-level clerical staff.

Examples of other common names in use—Executive Assistant, Administrative Assistant

Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants excludes jobs as
43-6012 Legal secretaries, as 43-6013 medical secretaries and as 43-6014 other types of secretaries such as alumni secretary, department secretary, office secretary, personal secretary, school secretary, real estate assistant.

Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants are sprinkled through almost every sector and sub-sector of the economy. They typically account for only a half percent or less of firm staffing, but selected service sectors are as high six and seven percent. Securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments establishments have an average of 5.5 to 7 percent staffing of executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants. Various real estate specialty service firms, grant making and giving services, social advocacy organizations, business, professional, labor, political, and similar organizations all have 4 to 6 percent staffing with executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants.

National employment as executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants dropped to 803,040 in 2012. Jobs are down from 1.37 million since 2000 in a steady decline, but job totals for medical secretaries and secretaries except executive, legal and medical are up enough to maintain employment totals for the combined category. The job total for all secretarial and administrative assistant categories continues to hold at 3.6 to 3.7 million in the national market since 2000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting modest job growth of 15.6 thousand per year in spite of the decade long decline.

The recently updated BLS Education and Training Classification assignments for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants list high school diploma or equivalent as the entry level education minimum. However, percentages from survey data are published for the executive secretary and executive administrative assistant occupation. Results show an educational distribution where 35 percent have some college, but no degree, and almost 30 percent have an associate’s degree, or baccalaureate degree and a few percent above the BA. Many executive assistants need computer skills beyond word processing that add to necessary education and enhance employability. In general on-the-job training is expected to be minimal for this occupation; applicants need to bring the skills and experience to the job.

Job growth is not the only measure of new hiring. Job openings equal job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be any job growth. Job openings for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants are expected to average around 32,180 per year in the years up to 2020..

The basic wage data from the BLS occupational employment survey includes a wage distribution. Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual by

The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants is reported as $31,310 in 2012. The 25th percentile wage equals $38,030. The median wage is $47,500, the 75th percentile wage equals $60,130 and the 90th percentile wage is $73,530. Yearly reported wage increases are keeping up with inflation across the whole salary distribution with a small increase in buying power over the last decade.

There are 27,380 Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants jobs in the Washington Metropolitan area for 2012. The entry wage for the Washington Metropolitan market in the 10th percentile for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants is reported as $36,640 in 2012. The 25th percentile wage equals $43,790. The median wage is $55,420, the 75th percentile wage equals $69,460 and the 90th percentile wage is $83,360. Legal secretaries earn more; medical and other secretaries earn less than executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants in the Washington metropolitan area.

There are 9,740 Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants jobs in the Washington DC for 2012. The entry wage for the Washington DC market in the 10th percentile for Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants is reported as $34,180 in 2012. The 25th percentile wage equals $41,100. The median wage is $51,470, the 75th percentile wage equals $66,970 and the 90th percentile wage is $84,440. Legal secretaries earn more; medical and other secretaries earn less than executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants in Washington DC.