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The diversity of the Southern California economy shows up in diversity of occupation as well. The state Employment Development Department tracks 357 industries and some 2,000 different occupations ranging from Able Seamen to Yeast Pushers. What follows are brief looks at the employment outlook for other job areas that are key to the Southland’s economy. CLERICAL

Fears that office automation would thin the ranks of clerical workers have been largely unfounded, although the pace of job growth is slowing somewhat, a recent survey by the National Academy of Sciences concluded.

The survey, titled “Computer Chips and Paper Clips: Technology and Women’s Employment,” found that the number of clerical jobs nationwide will expand by 10.5%--about 2 million jobs--between now and 1995. That rate is slower than in the previous decade, reflecting increased automation, but the academy noted that “whatever unemployment problem might result from technological change in clerical occupations should be small.”

The outlook in California is encouraging for the ranks of secretaries, bookkeepers, clerks, cashiers and typists. Clerical workers make up one of the largest job sectors in the state--some 2.2 million jobholders. Between 1980 and 1990, according to state Employment Development Department projections, an additional 600,000 clerical jobs will be created, or nearly 25% of all projected new jobs in the state.

“The increasing volume of paper work and record keeping, the growing complexity of large organizations, and industry growth will allow clerical occupations to reflect healthy growth,” according to the EDD report.

That growth will be healthiest for secretaries, where an additional 116,300 new positions are expected to be created through 1990, a 43% increase.