Title: Popular Jobs in the 1900s | Career Trend
Headings: Popular Jobs in the 1900s
Popular Jobs in the 1900s
Factory Work Anchored the New Industrial Economy
Secretaries Became an Indespensible Adjunct to Management
Salesmen Transitioned from Snake Oil to National Brands
Cashiers Were Everywhere

Content: However, beginning with the Great Depression, the rise industrial unionization dramatically increased the rewards of factory labor. By the 1950s, unionized factory jobs paid high wages with generous benefits and elevated millions of Americans into the middle class. Secretaries Became an Indespensible Adjunct to Management
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In the 1900s, women increasingly took over the clerical work that was formerly done by “office boys.” It was the only job women were allowed to do in a company, and they were allowed to do it primarily because they could be hired for lower wages. The modern secretary’s job eventually entailed doing virtually everything for managers except their actual job. A standard mid-century textbook for secretaries describes a seemingly endless variety of tasks that she was expected to do: use the telephone expertly, handle her boss’s travel arrangements, manage his personal funds, ghostwrite letters for every possible occasion, reserve theater tickets and decorate the office. Brought to you by Bizfluent
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Salesmen Transitioned from Snake Oil to National Brands
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The 1900s saw the transition of the sales person from disreputable huckster to respected professional. Most small manufacturers employed sales personnel to call on their limited market, and manufacturers of national brands typically had sales offices in cities nationwide, each with a sales force that was responsible for a regional territory. For much of the century, knowledgeable sales people were also an important feature of retail stores, though that gradually changed as self-service became increasingly common.