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What are some jobs or professions that have disappeared or almost entirely disappeared since the 1980s/1990s?

Asked by bolwerk (10337points) January 14th, 2014

Considering a research design on what happens to people whose jobs don’t exist anymore. I’m not talking about migration (e.g., to China) of the job, but actual disappearance of a job that was once considered common. I’m interested in roles from this time period because many people in them conceivably are still in the working lives and it would be interesting to understand how they adjust.

The kind of thing I’m interested in is stuff like milkman, Pullman porter, or typewriter repairer, but these for the most part were already too unusual by the 1980s to be of interest. Some residual examples of people continuing the role are fine, but by and large the role should have been important in the 1980s or 1990s (more interested in 1990s) and almost extinct now.

Finally, I’d like general examples the general public would be familiar with. It’s okay if technology is why the job disappeared, but I’m not interested in narrow categories. I’m sure plenty of OS/2 or A/UX system administrators disappeared since 1995, but their skills probably translate to other IT.

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