Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025

$58,260

Half earn more, half earn less

Middle half earn

$47,990 – $69,600

25th to 75th percentile

People employed, May 2025

153,140

Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)

Projected change, 2025–35

-15.9%

Shrinking (below 0%)

Openings a year (projected)

11,400

New jobs plus replacing people who leave

Typical education to enter

High school diploma or equivalent

BLS

• All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
• Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
• Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Compile and record employee time and payroll data. May compute employees' time worked, production, and commission. May compute and post wages and deductions, or prepare paychecks.

Main tasks

• 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.
• Review time sheets, work charts, wage computation, and other information to detect and reconcile payroll discrepancies.
• Distribute and collect timecards each pay period.
• Record employee information, such as exemptions, transfers, and resignations, to maintain and update payroll records.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)

High school diploma or equivalent

Training once hired: moderate-term on-the-job training

O*NET Job Zone 3

Medium preparation

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 1 programme to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

• Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping

  $50,610 median · -6.2% projected

• Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

  $50,670 median · -5.6% projected

• First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

  $69,500 median · +0.1% projected

• Office Clerks, General

  $45,010 median · -6% projected

• Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs

  $54,210 median · +1.6% projected

• Administrative Services Managers

  $114,130 median · +5.2% projected