Career Explorer Office and admin
Changing shape
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.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 1% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by -15.9% by 2035, expected to shrink.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $58,260
- Job growth to 2035
- -15.9%
- Openings a year
- 11,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 160,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Verify personal information
- Process digital or online data
- Compile records, documentation, or other data
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Maintain operational records
- Reconcile financial data
- Distribute materials, supplies, or resources
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as more payroll and timekeeping work is automated, reducing the need for these workers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerksChanging shape, Index 2, -5.6%
- Insurance claims and policy processing clerksChanging shape, Index 2, -1.9%
- Information and record clerks, all otherChanging shape, Index 7, +0.8%
- Communications equipment operators, all otherChanging shape, Index 5, +1.0%
Also known as: Payroll Assistant, Payroll Clerk, Payroll Coordinator, Payroll Specialist, Payroll Representative, Payroll Technician, Personnel Assistant, Personnel Technician.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.