staff wages hit record high

line chart
payroll services staff hourly earnings

their bosses aren’t seeing the same increases.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

going into the new year, the average american is doing somewhat better. earnings are up a bit; unemployment is down a bit.

more: despite staffing crunch, firms freeze pay raises | tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month | tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t | tax and accounting pay advancing at 5.9% pace | accounting jobs up 4% for year
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for employees in the tax, accounting and bookkeeping business, things are more complicated. pay for employees overall? usually down, way down. but pay for staff in every sector? all-time highs.

line chart
overall accounting profession employment

 

more on the money in a moment. first, the big picture.

the accounting profession lost ground for the fourth straight month in november, according to the latest data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research. at 1,151,900, the november mark was down 2,500 or 0.2 percent for the month but up 18,900 or 1.7 percent for the year. employees averaged 35.8 weekly hours, down 6 minutes or 0.3 percent for the month and 36 minutes or 1.6 percent for the year.

employment in professional and business services showed little change, while the national unemployment rate ticked down to 3.7 percent. employment – total, nonfarm, payroll – grew by 199,000, similar to recent months but below the average monthly gain of 240,000 over the prior 12 months.

average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose to $34.10, up 12 cents or 0.4 percent for the month and $1.30 or 4 percent for the year. national earnings of private-sector staff employees at $29.30 were up 12 cents and 0.4 percent for the month and $1.21 or 4.3 percent for the year.

easy to understand, right? employees as a whole make more; staff make more.

by contrast, the accounting profession and its sectors are on more of a roller coaster:

  • overall: they made an average of $40.96, off the february low for the year by just a penny. hourly earnings were down 11 cents or 0.3 percent for the month but up 77 cents or 1.9 percent for the year.
  • staff: earnings hit a record high of $31.93, up 19 cents or 0.6 percent for the month and $1.49 or 4.9 percent for the year.
  • cpa: earnings hit a low for the year at $42.99, down 30 cents or 0.7 percent for the month but up 53 cents or 1.2 percent for the year.
  • cpa staff: they made a record high of $33.65 an hour, up 31 cents or 0.9 percent for the month and 98 cents or 3 percent for the year.
  • payroll services: their earnings at $38.29 were the highest since august 2022, up $1.21 or 3.3 percent for the month and $3.15 or 9 percent for the year. as has happened before, payroll is an outlier.
  • payroll services staff: earnings leaped to a record high of $34.05, up $1.22 or 3.7 percent for the month and $3.27 or 10.6 percent for the year.

more employment levels and hours

staff numbered 848,200, up 1,500 or 0.2 percent for the month and 19,800 or 2.4 percent for the year. they worked 35.2 hours, down 24 minutes or 1.1 percent for the month and 18 minutes or 0.8 percent for the year.

cpa firms

cpa firms employed 550,200, down 2,000 or 0.4 percent for the month but up 8,900 or 1.6 percent for the year. weekly hours averaged 36.7, down 12 minutes or 0.5 percent for the month and 54 minutes or 2.4 percent for the year.

staff at cpa firms numbered 381,200, down 1,700 or 0.4 percent for the month but up 10,600 or 2.9 percent for the year. they put in 35.2 hours, down 36 minutes or 1.7 percent for the month and 54 minutes or 2.5 percent for the year.

tax preparation

rolls at tax preparation services dropped to 89,200, down 2,800 or 3 percent for the month and 7,200 or 7.5 percent for the year.

payroll services

payroll services employed 222,900, up 1,900 or 0.9 percent for the month and 8,800 or 4.1 percent for the year. workers averaged 34.8 hours, up 24 minutes or 1.2 percent for the month but down 1 hour 18 minutes or 3.6 percent for the year.

staff in payroll reached a record 195,000, up 5,200 or 2.7 percent for the month and 18,100 or 10.2 percent for the year. they worked 34.5 hours, up 24 minutes or 1.2 percent for the month but down 1 hour 12 minutes or 3.4 percent for the year.

bookkeeping

other accounting services employed 292,300, up 100 or statistically flat for the month and up 5,500 or 1.9 percent for the year.

women

there were a total of 733,200 women in the profession, up 500 or 0.1 percent for the month and 15,900 or 2.2 percent for the year. at cpa firms, they hit a new high of 333,300, up 600 or 0.2 percent for the month and 9,400 or 2.9 percent for the year. in payroll services, they numbered 105,200, up 900 or 0.9 percent for the month but down 3,200 or 3 percent for the year.