Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Office and administrative support / 43-4021.00

Correspondence Clerks

Compose letters or electronic correspondence in reply to requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit and other information, delinquent accounts, incorrect billings, or unsatisfactory services. Duties may include gathering data to formulate reply and preparing correspondence.

US jobs
4,290
Median wage
$46,800 a year
Job family
Office and administrative support

Can agents do the work of correspondence clerks?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Office and administrative support:

  • Task levelStrongOn computer-use and office-task benchmarks, top agents pass most tasks: 90.2% on OSWorld-Verified (humans: 72.4%), 83.1% on SpreadsheetBench, and 63.3% on WorkArena L1 under the standard protocol. Limits: many top entries are self-submitted and not re-run by the maintainers, and on TheAgentCompany's multi-step workplace tasks the best agent resolves 42.9%.
  • Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's GDPval deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons, but GDPval tasks are one-shot and fully specified. No benchmark in our collection tests multi-day administrative work, such as running a calendar or a purchasing process.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in office and administrative support, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities.
  • Read incoming correspondence to ascertain nature of writers' concerns and to determine disposition of correspondence.
  • Gather records pertinent to specific problems, review them for completeness and accuracy, and attach records to correspondence as necessary.
  • Prepare documents and correspondence, such as damage claims, credit and billing inquiries, invoices, and service complaints.
  • Compile data from records to prepare periodic reports.
  • Compose letters in reply to correspondence concerning such items as requests for merchandise, damage claims, credit information requests, delinquent accounts, incorrect billing, or unsatisfactory service.
  • Route correspondence to other departments for reply.
  • Ensure that money collected is properly recorded and secured.
  • Process orders for goods requested in correspondence.
  • Present clear and concise explanations of governing rules and regulations.
  • Review correspondence for format and typographical accuracy, assemble the information into a prescribed form with the correct number of copies, and submit it to an authorized official for signature.
  • Compute costs of records furnished to requesters, and write letters to obtain payment.
Other job titles for this occupation (39)

Chargeback Specialist · Claims Correspondence Clerk · Correspondence Clerk · Correspondence Coordinator · Correspondence Representative (Correspondence Rep) · Correspondent · Dispute Resolution Analyst · Dispute Specialist · Office Technician (Office Tech) · Technical Clerk · Authorization and Referral Coordinator · Authorization Coordinator · Authorization Representative (Authorization Rep) · Authorization Specialist · Collections Correspondent · Commercial Correspondent · Correspondence Analyst · Correspondence Dictator · Correspondence Renew Clerk · Correspondence Review Clerk · Correspondence Specialist · Correspondence Transcriber · Customer Service Correspondence Clerk · Dispute Resolution Specialist · Document Review Analyst · Fan Mail Editor · Image Review Clerk · Legislative Correspondent · Medical Authorization Specialist · Membership Correspondent · Office Correspondent · Pre-Authorization Specialist · Prior Authorization Specialist · Referral and Authorization Specialist · Referrals Coordinator · Review Coordinator · Sales Correspondent · Student Loans Correspondent · Suggestions Clerk