Career
Payroll and timekeeping clerks
Make sure people are paid correctly and on time.
$58,260
Median pay
-15.9%
Job growth, 2025–35
11,400
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Verify attendance, hours worked, and pay adjustments, and post information onto designated records.
- Process and issue employee paychecks and statements of earnings and deductions.
- Compute wages and deductions, and enter data into computers.
- Process paperwork for new employees and enter employee information into the payroll system.
- Prepare and balance period-end reports, and reconcile issued payrolls to bank statements.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Verify attendance, hours worked, and pay adjustments, and post information onto designated records.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Mathematics, Writing.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $58,260 a year and 11,400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- AccountingSee the degree →
- Accounting Technology/Technician and BookkeepingCIP 52.0302
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping$50,610 · -6.2%
- Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks$50,670 · -5.6%
- First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers$69,500 · +0.1%
- Billing and Posting Clerks$48,500 · -0.1%
- Office Clerks, General$45,010 · -6.0%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.