To give those business and vocational educators involved in curriculum development a better understanding of data processing personnel requirements, a study was initiated to determine the status of data processing equipment and personnel in selected Pennsylvania businesses. Following a literature review, a questionnaire was developed, revised, and sent to 1,851 Pennsylvania businesses. Data analysis was based on 453 usable responses. Conclusions were drawn concerning the need for various occupations: keypunch operators, data entry operators, EAM operators, computer console operators, librarians (tape disk), business programmers, scientific programmers, systems programmers, and systems analysts. For example, it was determined that keypunch operators will be needed in the next five years in all standard industrial classification categories and in all sizes of businesses, and scientific programmers will be needed by a relative few; 76% show no need for increasing their scientific programming staff in the next five years. Additional conclusions were drawn concerning occupations' educational requirements, computer language usage, business size and needs, and equipment usage trends. Recommendations for business educators include (1) continue teaching data processing using unit record equipment; (2) equally emphasize skills and applications areas; (3) stress data processing concepts instead of hardware; and (4) build curriculum based on area and business needs. (CSS)