For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Wednesday, November 29, 2017 USDL-17-1572

Technical Information: (202) 691-6199 • ORSinfo@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/ors

Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov

OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES – 2017

About thirty percent of workers had jobs that required between 4 hours to 1 month of preparation time to 

successfully perform a job, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1.)

Occupations with this short preparation time requirement include 89.0 percent of fast food cooks and 

77.0 percent of amusement and recreation attendants. Preparation time refers to the minimum formal 

education, training, and work experience required for a typical worker to successfully perform a job.

This release provides data from the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS). ORS provides jobrelated information about the physical demands, environmental conditions, education and training, and 

mental requirements for jobs within the U.S. economy.

Chart 1. Preparation time required for workers to successfully perform a job, 2017

Preparation time

Occupations with a high percentage of jobs that required preparation time of over 10 years include 

architectural and engineering managers (57.1 percent) and chief executives (56.9 percent). Occupations 

with a high percentage of jobs that required 4 to 10 years of preparation time are nurse practitioners

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Short demo

only

Short demo

to 1 month

1 to 3

months

3 to 6

months

6 months to

1 year

1 to 2 years 2 to 4 years 4 to 10 years Over 10 years

Upcoming Changes to the Occupational Requirements Survey

The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) procedures are currently being revised. BLS has 

taken steps to revise procedures to align more closely with a narrower scope of work that pertains to 

the hiring and pay factors of the job. Beginning with the 2018 release, ORS data will reflect these 

revised concepts. For more information see www.bls.gov/ors/ors_improvements_09142017.htm. 
(85.8 percent), lawyers (76.2 percent), and electricians (49.6 percent), while those occupations that 

typically required 2 to 4 years are elementary school teachers (59.9 percent), industrial machinery 

mechanics (48.0 percent), and food service managers (39.3 percent). (See chart 2.)

Chart 2. Percent of jobs in selected occupations that require designated preparation time, 2017

Some occupations in chart 2 required minimum education levels that include more advanced formal 

degrees. For example, 87.8 percent of lawyers typically required a professional degree, 76.0 percent of 

nurse practitioners required a master’s degree, and 96.2 percent of elementary school teachers required a 

bachelor’s degree. This contributes to longer preparation time for these occupations.

Prior work experience, and not necessarily high levels of formal education, may also result in greater

preparation time for an occupation. For example, 81.9 percent of industrial machinery mechanics

required prior work experience, and 59.0 percent required a high school diploma. The average time of 

prior work experience for industrial machinery mechanics, when required, is about 2.5 years (998 days). 

Similarly, 65.8 percent of electricians require an average prior work experience of about 3.5 years 

(1,247 days). 

For architectural and engineering managers and chief executives, typically both a bachelor’s degree

(78.9 percent and 61.3 percent, respectively) and about 8.5 years of prior work experience were required 

(3,112 days and 3,183 days, respectively).

Strength and selected physical demands

Physical demands refer to the effort generally required to successfully perform work-related tasks. The 

strength required for a job is based on how much weight a worker is required to lift or carry, how often 

they lift this weight, and the amount they stand or walk in some special cases. Strength is measured in 

five levels, from sedentary to very heavy. 

Only 3.4 percent of workers had jobs classified as a very heavy strength level. About half (57.3 percent) 

of emergency medical technicians and paramedics had jobs considered a very heavy strength level, 

along with 25.4 percent of lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers, and 

22.5 percent of laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (hand). These occupations required

lifting or carrying an average maximum weight of between 60 to 120 pounds. (See chart 3.)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Architectural &

engineering

mgrs.

Chief

executives

Nurse

practitioners

Lawyers Electricians Elementary

school teachers

Industrial

machinery

mechanics

Food service

mgrs.

Over 10 years 4 - 10 years 2 - 4 years
Chart 3. Percent of workers in jobs considered at a very heavy strength level and the average maximum weight lifted, 

2017

Occupations with a high percentage of workers in jobs considered sedentary include telemarketers (91.6 

percent) and computer programmers (86.7 percent). These two occupations required workers to spend 

about 90 percent of the workday sitting. Although most advertising sales agents are sedentary, they only 

spend about 80 percent of their workday sitting. (See chart 4). 

Chart 4. Percent of jobs in selected occupations that require a sedentary strength level and percent of day spent 

sitting, 2017

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Emergency medical

technicians and

paramedics

Lifeguards, ski patrol,

and other recreational

protective service

workers

Laborers and freight,

stock, and material

movers (hand)

Construction laborers Nursing assistants

Pounds

Percent very heavy Avg max weight (pounds)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Telemarketers Computer programmers Advertising sales agents Insurance policy

processing clerks

Budget analysts

Percent sedentary Percent of day sitting
Technical Note

Data in this release are from the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS), conducted by the U.S. 

Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The ORS is an establishment-based survey and 

provides job-related information about the physical demands, environmental conditions, education and 

training, and mental requirements of jobs in the U.S. economy. Excluded are the federal government, the 

military, agricultural workers, private household workers, and the self-employed. 

Additional estimates for detailed occupations and occupational groups are available at 

www.bls.gov/ors/#data.

Sample size

The 2017 estimates are from two samples of data collected from the Occupational Requirements Survey. 

The ORS is an establishment-based survey and uses a national sample design. To maximize the amount 

of publishable information, the BLS is combining data across three annual ORS samples to produce the 

2018 estimates. The number of publishable occupations and the level of occupational detail is expected 

to increase with the addition of each subsequent year’s sample until the full ORS sample size of 26,500 

sampled establishments is reached in 2018.

Data for the 2017 reference period were collected from 2 samples consisting of 14,000 private industry 

and 2,000 state and local government establishments. The ORS estimates represent 138,400,000 workers 

in the United States.

Measures of reliability

To assist users in ascertaining the reliability of ORS estimates, standard errors are made available 

shortly after publication of the news release. Standard errors provide users a measure of the precision of 

an estimate to ensure that it is within an acceptable range for their intended purpose. Collected and 

imputed data are included in the standard error calculation. BLS will continue refining estimation 

processes including evaluating the impact of sampling and nonsampling errors on the ORS estimates.

For further information see: www.bls.gov/ors/se.htm.

Occupational classification

BLS uses the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system, www.bls.gov/soc. The ORS classifies 

occupations by eight-digit codes used by O*NET’s detailed occupational taxonomy referred to as 

“O*NET-SOC 2010 Occupations.” See www.onetcenter.org/taxonomy.html for more information 

regarding O*Net occupation classification. Military specific occupations (55-0000.00) are out of scope 

for the ORS. Additional information about occupational classification can be found in the ORS 

Handbook of Methods “Design” section at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ors/design.htm. 

Definitions of major terms

For definitions of major terms used in the ORS, see the glossary beginning on page 108 of the ORS 

collection manual at 

www.bls.gov/ncs/ors/occupational_requirements_survey_collection_manual_052016.pdf, or the 

“Concepts” section of the ORS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ors/concepts.htm. 

Obtaining information

More information can be obtained by calling (202) 691-6199, sending email to orsinfo@bls.gov, or by 

visiting www.bls.gov/ors.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request—

Telephone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.