American banks, savings and loans, insurance companies, and securities and commodities firms employed more than six million workers in 2005. Work in the financial services sector spans a wide range of jobs and skill levels, from high-level analysts and programmers, to data-entry clerks and automated teller machine (ATM) repairers. More than ever, though, financial services work requires contact with customers: about half of American financial services workers today hold jobs that require direct customer contact, and this share is growing. These customers—their preference, choices, and demands—will in large part shape the future of service work in the sector.
