Computers are making jobs obsolete. Is your job next?

As clerical, customer service and manufacturing jobs are replaced with automated processes, there are fewer and fewer jobs for unskilled workers. How about your job?

Office jobs are among the positions hardest hit by the computer era. Word processors and typists will lose about 93,000 jobs over the next 5 years, while 57,000 clerical jobs will disappear. The outlook is also bleak for stock clerks, whose ranks are expected to decrease by 68,000. Furthermore, employees in inventory control for manufacturing firms and wholesalers are being replaced with computerized systems.

The service economy is fading; welcome to the expertise economy. To prosper in the new job market, you must be able to handle complex problems. Indeed, all but one of the 50 highest-paying occupations -- air-traffic controller -- demand at least a bachelor's degree.

For job seekers with only a high school diploma, it's going to get even more challenging to secure a decent paying job. Since less factory and clerical jobs will be available, what are left will be the jobs that computers cannot do such as flipping burgers, cleaning office buildings and caring for the Elderly. Since these types of jobs are generally held by those with less education and/or work experience, wages will remain low and this may create an even larger divide between rich and poor.

Are you at risk of losing your job to a computer? Check the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is available online at bls.gov.