The transformation of the traditional office from a paper-handling to an electronic-processing operation will greatly increase the productivity of businesses and eliminate millions of clerical workers by the end of the decade. The nation’s secretaries are among the first casualties of the electronic office revolution. The number of secretaries has steadily declined as personal computers, electronic mail, and fax machines replace manual typewriters, paper files and routine correspondence. Economists Wassily Leontief and Faye Duchin estimate that the conversion from paper-handling to an electronic processing office will save 45 percent of all secretarial time and between 25 percent and 75 percent of all office-related activity. Receptionists are also being reduced in number as new automated computer systems can answer calls, record messages, and even hunt down the party being phoned.  Article