Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
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.
- Median pay
- $58,260
- Doing it now
- 159,600
- By 2035
- Down 15.9%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
11,400 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Process and issue employee paychecks and statements of earnings and deductions.
- Compute wages and deductions, and enter data into computers.
- Compile employee time, production, and payroll data from time sheets and other records.
- Review time sheets, work charts, wage computation, and other information to detect and reconcile payroll discrepancies.
- Verify attendance, hours worked, and pay adjustments, and post information onto designated records.
- Record employee information, such as exemptions, transfers, and resignations, to maintain and update payroll records.
- Issue and record adjustments to pay related to previous errors or retroactive increases.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Accounting and Related ServicesSee 1,192 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Organised and precise
Leading and persuading
Helping and teaching
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $58,260 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.