Range estimates in the ORS dataset

The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) publishes job-related information on physical demands; environmental 

conditions; education, training, and experience; as well as cognitive and mental requirements. The job requirements 

reflect those necessary for workers to perform critical tasks in support of the critical job functions, and not the 

capabilities of individual workers. 

Estimates are available through the Excel dataset and the database query tools, and where possible, estimates are 

published as point values. Ranges represent estimates where the precise value cannot be published. The use of ranges 

maximizes the number of published estimates and provides additional detail on job requirements in the economy.

These are common cases in which estimates are published as ranges instead of point estimates. 

1. If an estimate’s value is less than 0.5 percent or greater than 99.5 percent. These are denoted by footnote 1, less 

than 0.5 percent, and footnote 36, greater than 99.5 percent. Estimates that would have been previously 

published as 100.0 percent are now captured in the greater than 99.5 percent range. 

2. If an estimate does not meet certain publication criteria related to reliability and confidentiality. The BLS is 

committed to producing high quality data and upholds the BLS Confidentiality Pledge and Federal Laws 

regarding respondent confidentiality. If an estimate does not meet the reliability standards or could breach 

survey respondent confidentiality, the point estimate will not be published. The estimate may instead be 

published as a range estimate. 

Range estimate methodology

When estimates are published as ranges, the range incorporates the point estimate’s standard error to form a one-sided 

90-percent confidence interval, rounded to the nearest 5 percent.1 This approach provides users with some information 

without revealing the underlying point estimate. Because the confidence interval is produced using the standard error 

associated with the underlying point estimate, range estimates have no associated standard errors published. Below are 

the formulas used to build the less than and greater than range estimates. These formulas can also be applied to

estimates that are provided as a point estimate with a standard error.

• Constructing a less than range = Estimate + (Standard error * 1.645), rounded up to the nearest 5 percent

• Constructing a greater than range = Estimate – (Standard error * 1.645), rounded down to the nearest 5 percent

Table 1. Available range values for percentage of worker estimates

Footnote code Less than Footnote code Greater than

1 < 0.5 percent 26 > 50 percent

16 < 5 percent 27 > 55 percent

17 < 10 percent 28 > 60 percent

18 < 15 percent 29 > 65 percent

19 < 20 percent 30 > 70 percent

20 < 25 percent 31 > 75 percent

21 < 30 percent 32 > 80 percent

22 < 35 percent 33 > 85 percent

23 < 40 percent 34 > 90 percent

24 < 45 percent 35 > 95 percent

25 < 50 percent 36 > 99.5 percent

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey
Occupational Requirements Survey ●www.bls.gov/ors ●orsinfo@bls.gov ●202.691.6199

Range estimates will not be published if they encompass more than 50 percent of the distribution, meaning that less 

than ranges only capture values 50 percent and below and greater than ranges only capture values 50 percent and 

above. Ranges such as greater than 20 percent or less than 60 percent will not be published because they represent 

more than 50 percent of the distribution. Table 1 provides a list of ranges published in the ORS dataset and their 

respective footnote codes.

Ranges denoting an estimate value less than 0.5 percent or greater than 99.5 percent do not incorporate a confidence 

interval. Standard errors are not available when estimates are equal to 0 and 100 percent, and as a result a confidence 

interval cannot be created.

Examples of range estimates

Ranges will be denoted by the footnotes shown in Table 1 when viewing the estimates through the database query 

tools. The range estimates will be displayed in the Estimate column, while also being footnoted, in the Excel dataset. 

In some cases, ranges fill in information that would be blank. For example, 77.3 percent of umpires referees, and other 

sports officials had no minimum education requirement and 22.7 percent required a high school diploma. These two 

estimates sum to 100 percent. A range of less than 0.5 percent range is published for the remaining minimum education 

requirements. See Table 2. 

Ranges are used to provide additional detail on job requirements. For pharmacy technicians, the majority of workers 

required a high school diploma (86.7 percent). An additional 1.7 percent of workers had no minimum education 

requirement and 5.9 percent required an associate’s degree. These three estimates sum to 94.3 percent of workers; the 

remaining 5.7 percent of workers are spread across the other minimum education requirements. Based on the published 

range of less than 10 percent of workers requiring an associate’s vocational degree and less than 0.5 percent of workers 

in the remaining education levels, much of the 5.7 percent of workers would require an associate’s vocational degree. 

Additionally, greater than 99.5 percent of lawyers required a professional degree. All other education levels were 

required for less than 0.5 percent of workers meaning very few, if any, lawyers required a degree other than a 

professional degree. 

Table 2. Percentage of workers by minimum education requirements, 2023

Occupation

No 

minimum 

education

High 

school 

diploma

High 

school 

vocational

Associate's 

degree

Associate's 

vocational

Bachelor's 

degree

Master's 

degree

Professional 

degree

Doctorate 

degree

Umpires, 

referees, and 

other sports 

officials

77.3 22.7 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5

Pharmacy 

technicians 1.7 86.7 <0.5 5.9 <10 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5

Lawyers <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 >99.5 <0.5

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey
Occupational Requirements Survey ●www.bls.gov/ors ●orsinfo@bls.gov ●202.691.6199

Additional resources:

• Latest news release

• Archived ORS news releases

• Handbook of Methods

• Collection manuals

• Factsheets

Articles:

• All The Economics Daily (TED) articles on ORS

• Minds at work: what’s required according to the Occupational Requirements Survey (PDF)

• A look at teachers’ job requirements, employer costs, and benefits (PDF)

• Occupational Requirements Survey: Third wave testing report (PDF)

• Occupational Requirements Survey: results from a job observation pilot test

• The Occupational Requirements Survey: estimates from preproduction testing

For additional information on occupational requirements see the ORS homepage or download the ORS complete dataset

to explore the latest estimates.

1

 A confidence interval is a set of values that an estimate is expected to fall between even if the data were collected from a different 

sample of the same occupations. For more information on confidence intervals, see https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/topic/errormeasurements.htm.