Compared with the local labor market
Personnel Assistant III pay vs. New Jersey
Across all employers in New Jersey, the median wage for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks — about 4,290 people — is $60,750. Office of the Public Defender pays a median base salary of $67,245 for this role, 11% above that figure — about the 63rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Office of the Public Defender sits in the local pay range
$42,990
$50,440
$60,750
$73,350
$84,990
Office of the Public Defender median · $67,245
The bar is the range of annual wages for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks across every employer in New Jersey, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Office of the Public Defender’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks — about 153,140 people — is $58,260. Office of the Public Defender’s median base salary is 15% above that national figure, about the 70th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$39,500
$47,990
$58,260
$69,600
$81,350
Office of the Public Defender median · $67,245
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the New Jersey range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Office of the Public Defender is $67,983, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Personnel Assistant beyond New Jersey
This role is reported in 4 jurisdictions. In New Jersey, the median of $75,710 ranks #2 of 4. See Personnel Assistant across all of New Jersey →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Personnel Assistantroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.