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Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks vs Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks and Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$55,290
$46,290
Employment · BLS OEWS
156,950
1,737,820
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
73rd pct
82nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
Median pay $55,290 $46,290
Employment 156,950 1,737,820
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-16.7%) Declining (-1.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 13,000 202,800
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies High · 73rd pct High · 82nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 98th pct · 61% of tasks 96th pct · 58% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (52.9%) Automation-leaning (51.5%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Administrative, Mathematics, English Language, Economics and Accounting, Personnel and Human Resources, Reading Comprehension, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Administration and Management, Active Listening, Written Expression, Near Vision, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Mathematics, Problem Sensitivity, Customer and Personal Service, Computers and Electronics, Writing, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Monitoring, Service Orientation, Complex Problem Solving, Selective Attention, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Social Perceptiveness, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Category Flexibility, Active Learning, Coordination, Communications and Media.

Specific to Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

  • Mathematical Reasoning
  • Number Facility
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Flexibility of Closure

Specific to Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

  • Time Sharing
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Education and Training
  • Fluency of Ideas

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Time accounting software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software , Accounting software , Data base user interface and query software , Presentation software , Word processing software .

Specific to Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks

Specific to Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks or Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks vs Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks-vs-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-except-legal-medical-and-executive

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks vs Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks-vs-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-except-legal-medical-and-executive

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks-vs-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-except-legal-medical-and-executive,
  title  = {Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks vs Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/payroll-and-timekeeping-clerks-vs-secretaries-and-administrative-assistants-except-legal-medical-and-executive}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.