THE traditional image of counter clerks and telephonists in the British workplace is being wiped out by a boom in call centres, a study has revealed.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the number of call centre jobs leapt 220 per cent between the winter of 1996-7 and summer 2000.
The number of people in more traditional roles continued to decline.
The Labour Market Trends study found that during the four years up to mid-2000 there was a 13 per cent fall in the number of people working as counter clerks and formal telephonists.
The ONS study also found that the number of people working in information technology (IT) has grown rapidly.
The number of IT operations technicians increased by 138 per cent between the winter of 1996-7 and summer 2000.
In the same period the number of IT support technicians rose by 70 per cent andsoftware professionals by 29 per cent.
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