They're Either Too Pretty or Too Old

THE SECRETARY SHORTAGE

I NEVER say a good word about my secretary outside the office," says a Chicago lawyer. "If I did, somebody else would have her on his payroll tomorrow." To many U.S. businessmen such caution is normal. Though a record 21 million U.S. women are working, only about 2 million hold secretarial jobs—and only a small percentage are genuine secretaries. As prosperity piles up the paperwork, the shortage becomes more severe; some 250,000 secretarial jobs go begging every day. "We just need bodies," moans a Midwest employment agent. "There haven't been enough...