Office and Administrative Support · Holland code CE

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.

Also called: Payroll Assistant, Payroll Clerk, Payroll Coordinator, Payroll Specialist, Payroll Representative, Payroll Technician, Personnel Assistant, Personnel Technician.

O*NET 43-3051.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $58,260; Middle half earn $47,990 to $69,600. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 32% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

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.
Prepare and file payroll tax returns.
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.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
Active Listening3.8 / 5
Mathematics3.3 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Speaking3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Administrative4.5 / 5
Mathematics4.2 / 5
English Language4.2 / 5
Economics and Accounting4.1 / 5
Personnel and Human Resources3.9 / 5
Administration and Management3.8 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic14
Investigative1
Artistic0
Social15
Enterprising39
Conventional100

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

dividend analyst · DE Dividendenanalyst/Dividendenanalystin · FR spécialiste des dividendes
accounting assistant · DE Buchhaltungsassistent/Buchhaltungsassistentin · FR assistant vérificateur de comptes/assistante vérificatrice de comptes
bookkeeper · DE Buchhalter/Buchhalterin · FR chargé de comptabilité/chargée de comptabilité
administrative assistant · DE Verwaltungsassistent/Verwaltungsassistentin · FR assistant administratif/assistante administrative
pensions administrator · DE Rentensachbearbeiter/Rentensachbearbeiterin · FR administrateur d’organismes de pension/administratrice d’organismes de pension
secretary · DE Sekretär/Sekretärin · FR secrétaire

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Financial and accounting technicians (3533)37,700 employed
Chartered and certified accountants (2421)233,600 employed
Human resources administrative occupations (4136)60,300 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.26. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (43-3051).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test