A clerical role in a teletype operation, you handled the office work around teletype communications — message logs, file maintenance, paper-supply management, and the administrative work that supported teletype operators and the communications office.
The work sat at the desk just outside the teletype room — maintaining the message logs that operators produced, filing incoming and outgoing message copies, managing paper and tape supplies, supporting the operators with administrative work. Records accuracy and supply availability anchored the operating measures.
What complicated the day-to-day was the volume of message traffic that high-volume operations generated — large communications offices ran continuous teletype traffic, and clerks managed the paperwork at production pace. Industry variance shaped the role: news services ran heavy teletype operations with significant clerical support; corporate and government communications ran lighter office volumes; military communications added security and classification overlays.
The role tended to fit people patient with administrative volume, comfortable in shift-based or continuous-operations settings, and reliable through repetitive office work. On-the-job training and communications-industry backgrounds anchored advancement. The trade-off was the eventual transition — as teletype gave way to electronic communications through the 1980s, teletype-clerk positions retired across the industries that had used them.
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Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →A clerical role in a teletype operation, you handled the office work around teletype communications — message logs, file maintenance, paper-supply management, and the administrative work that supported teletype operators and the communications office.
Median pay for a Teletype Clerk is about $40K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $30K to $57K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Monitoring, Time Management, and Writing.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 25.9% through 2034, with roughly 135,280 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Data Collector, Senior Data Collector, and Data Transcriber.
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