Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations.... They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they call them "operators" or "programmers."

Drucker is pointing to a recurring pattern in technological change: automation introduced to eliminate “clerical” labor often shifts work rather than removing it. Early computerization reduced some routine tasks but created new categories of skilled administrative labor—operators, programmers, systems staff—whose work was costlier and whose numbers could grow as organizations expanded what they attempted to measure, record, and control. The quote also critiques managerial expectations and accounting: firms may count headcount reductions in one job title while ignoring the creation of new roles and overhead. More broadly, it anticipates later debates about productivity paradoxes and the way information technology can increase organizational complexity.