Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release (March 30, 2016), the total number employed in the US for All Occupations was 137,896,660. Here is the breakdown of number employed in each occupational group:

  1. Office and Administrative Support: 21,846,420
  2. Sales and Related (including Retail): 14,462,120
  3. Food Preparing and Serving: 12,577,080
  4. Transportation and Material Moving: 9,536,610
  5. Production: 9,073,290
  6. Education and Training: 8,542,670
  7. Healthcare Practitioners and Technical: 8,021,800
  8. Food and Beverage Serving Workers: 7,054,960
  9. Business and Financial Operations: 7,032,560
  10. Management: 6,936,990
  11. Construction and Extraction: 5,477,820
  12. Installation, Maintenance and Repair; 5,374,150
  13. Building and Grounds Maintenance: 4,407,050
  14. Personal Care and Service: 4,307,500
  15. Computer and Mathematical: 4,005,250
  16. Healthcare Support: 3,989,910
  17. Protective Service: 3,351,620
  18. Cooks and Food Preparation Workers: 3,147,210
  19. Architecture and Engineering: 2,475,390
  20. Community and Social Service: 1,972,140
  21. Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media:1,843,600
  22. Life, Physical, and Social Science: 1,146,110
  23. Legal: 1,062,370
  24. Farming, Fishing, and Forestry: 454,230

What I find interesting here is that administrative support jobs are by far the biggest occupational group. And yet for decades, prognosticators have been saying the computer will make office work near obsolete. So why are there more office jobs than ever? And what bearing does this have on the “robots will be taking your job soon’ argument?