Table 23
United States
Occupations with Largest Job Declines, 1998-2008
(In thousands)
Occupation	Employment		Numerical Change	Percent Change
	1998	2008
Farmers	1,308	1,135	-173	-13
Sewing machine operators, garment	369	257	-112	-30
Child care workers, private household	306	209	-97	-32
Word processors and typists	459	365	-93	-20
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,078	1,997	-81	-4
Cleaners and servants, private household	600	530	-71	-12
Farm workers	851	794	-57	-7
Computer operators, exc. peripheral equipment	224	170	-54	-24
Textile draw-out and winding machine operators and tenders	192	141	-50	-26
Bank Tellers	560	529	-31	-5
Switchboard operators	214	185	-30	-14
Inspectors, testers, and graders, precision	689	667	-22	-3
Machine tool cutting operators and tenders, metal and plastic	109	88	-22	-20
Butchers and meatcutters	216	201	-15	-7
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	172	161	-11	-6
Peripheral equipment operators	27	17	-10	-38
Woodworking machine operators and tenders, setters and set-up operators	79	69	-10	-13
Offset lithographic press operators	63	54	-9	-15
Fishers	40	31	-9	-23
Procurement clerks	58	49	-9	-15
Station installers and repairers, telephone	24	16	-8	-34
Welfare eligibility workers and interviewers	109	100	-8	-8
Typesetting and composing machine operators and tenders	13	5	-8	-60
Drilling and boring machine tool setters and set-up operators, metal and plastic	42	34	-8	-18
Film strippers, printing	23	15	-8	-33
Directory assistance operators	23	16	-7	-31
Housekeepers and butlers	17	10	-7	-42
Grinding, lapping, and buffing machine tool setters and set-up operators, metal and plastic	75	68	-7	-10
Proofreaders and copy markers	41	34	-7	-17
Railroad brake, signal and switch operators	14	7	-7	-48
Source: Monthly Labor Review, November 1999, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics