Most Common Job In Illinois? Truck Driver

By John Dodge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- For anybody who spends just a few moments traveling the expressways around Chicago, it should come as no surprise that the most common job in Illinois, and the nation for that matter, is: truck driver.

However, it wasn't always that way.

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, being a secretary was the most common occupation, according to a NPR analysis of U.S. Census data. 

"Through much of the '80s, as the U.S. economy shifted away from factories that make goods and toward offices that provide services, secretary became the most common job in more and more states. But a second shift — the rise of the personal computer — reversed this trend, as machines did more and more secretarial work," according to the NPR analysis.

Computer-related jobs didn't make any list until after the millennium. First, it was "computer analyst"--now several states claim software developer as the most common career.

However, truck driver has dominated as a career across the U.S. for 25 years.