Launch League

Business & entrepreneurship · Organizing & Managing

Data entry clerk: what the job actually is

Typing information accurately into a system, from forms, documents or records, so somebody else can find it later.

Published Last reviewed How we research and correct this

Data entry clerk: quick facts

Data entry clerk salary in Ontario: the median pay is $23.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is limited. The job usually needs a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training.

Median pay in Ontario
$23.00 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$17.95 to $34.87 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Limited
People working in it in Ontario
15,500
Usually needs
Usually a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 14111. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Taking information from one place and getting it exactly right in another: forms, invoices, records, spreadsheets, databases.
  • Accuracy matters more than speed. A wrong number in a record does not announce itself, and somebody else will find it later.
  • Job Bank's requirements page says completion of secondary school may be required, and that college or other courses in data entry may be required. It says the group is not regulated in Canada.
  • Job Bank's outlook for this group is limited, so this is not a growing field. If you want to build a career around office systems, this job is more often a starting point than a destination.
  • It is quiet, desk-bound and detailed. Some people find that restful, and some find it close to unbearable.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:30 — Log in. A stack of the day's forms, or a batch in the queue, with a deadline attached.
  2. 8:45 — Start on the first batch. Read the line, type it, check it, next line.
  3. 10:00 — A form is unreadable. You flag it rather than guess, and move on.
  4. 10:30 — Short break. Your eyes need a rest from the screen and your wrists from the keyboard.
  5. 10:45 — A second type of record with different fields. You slow down until the pattern is in your fingers.
  6. 12:00 — Lunch away from the desk.
  7. 12:45 — Run a check on the morning's entries: totals match, no blanks, nothing duplicated.
  8. 13:30 — A supervisor asks why three entries do not match their source. You find them and fix them.
  9. 15:00 — More of the same. The afternoon has the same shape as the morning.
  10. 16:30 — Log what you finished and what is left. The pile for tomorrow is already there.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You have patience for detail and notice a mistake that others skim over.
  • You can concentrate on one thing for a long stretch without needing something new.
  • You like a clear task with a clear finish line.
  • You work well alone and prefer a quiet place to a busy one.
You may hate this if
  • You get bored when a task repeats. Much of this job is repetition.
  • Sitting for hours at a screen is hard for you, physically or mentally.
  • You need variety or talking to people. This job has little of either.
  • You want a job with a growing field behind it. Job Bank rates this group's outlook as limited, and its own text lays out the reasons.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish secondary school

    Job Bank says completion of secondary school may be required.

  2. Consider a data entry or office course

    Job Bank's requirements page says college or other courses in data entry may be required. A broader office or business college program is another way in.

  3. Build accuracy and typing skill

    No licence is needed. Employers hire on how accurately you work, and a short test of typing and checking is common.

  4. Think about where it leads

    Data entry is often an entry into office work. Many people move on to administrative, accounting or records roles. Job Bank does not set out a ladder for this group, so ask employers where people go.

Where this comes from: Job Bank — Data entry clerks requirements (Ontario) · Ontario — Employment Standards Act guide: young workers' rights · Ontario — Minimum age for work

The money

Data entry clerk salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$17.95
Low (hourly)
$23.00
Median (hourly)
$34.87
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 14111. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Data entry clerk wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Limited2 out of 5 stars

  • Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

15,500
people work in this job in Ontario
73%
are women (48% across all jobs)
5%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Data entry clerks job prospects in Ontario (NOC 14111). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take a keyboarding, business or computer course. Spreadsheets and databases are the tools of this job.
  • Learn to use a spreadsheet properly: formatting, formulas, and checking your work.
  • Volunteer to be the treasurer, secretary or records person for a club, where you keep a list accurate over time.
  • Ask your guidance counsellor about a co-op placement in an office.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Type 200 records and check every one

About 60 minutes
  1. Find a list of at least 200 items, such as a table of sports results, a catalogue page, or a recipe collection, and copy it into a spreadsheet by hand, row by row.
  2. When done, check every row against the source, without skipping. Count your mistakes.
  3. Notice how you felt at each point: after ten minutes, after thirty, and during the checking.
  4. Do it again the next day with a different list and see whether you made fewer mistakes.

What it tells you. If you finished calm, with few mistakes, and the checking was oddly satisfying, then careful desk work might suit you. If you rushed, got bored or found the checking miserable, then a job doing this for a full shift will be harder, and your time may be better spent looking at roles with more variety.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What kinds of records do you enter, and what happens if one is wrong?”
  2. “How is your accuracy measured, and how is your speed?”
  3. “How do you keep concentrating through the afternoon?”
  4. “What do people who start in data entry usually move on to?”
  5. “How has the work changed since you started?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Some people do data entry as freelance or contract work, but Job Bank reports that few in this group are self-employed and the outlook is limited. Treat it as an employee job, and learn the skills so you can build on them.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a data entry clerk make in Ontario?

The median pay for a data entry clerk in Ontario is $23.00 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $17.95 to $34.87 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a data entry clerk in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as limited for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment decline will lead to the loss of some positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a data entry clerk in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a high school diploma, or several weeks of on-the-job training. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish secondary school; Consider a data entry or office course; Build accuracy and typing skill.

How many people work as a data entry clerk in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 15,500 people working in this job in Ontario. 73% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

If this appeals, look at these too

receptionist administrative assistant accounting clerk bookkeeper

Read next

Jobs for teens in Ontario Finished school, can't find a job All careers guides

Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.