An official website of the United States government 
	  
	Here is how you know
 Department of Labor Logo  United States Department of Labor
 **The .gov means it's official.**
			 Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information,
			make sure you're on a federal government site.
 **The site is secure.**
			 The
			**https://** ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any
			information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.


U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
 Follow Us
 
 Release Calendar Blog
 Search button
          Search:


Menu

  Search button
          Search:
	
	  Follow Us Follow Us on X, formerly referred to as Twitter| Release Calendar | Blog
    Home
        About BLS
		History	
		Our Leadership
		Budget and Performance		
		Questions and Answers	
		A-Z Index	
		Glossary	
		Careers at BLS	
		BLS Speakers Available
		Errata  				
		Contact BLSOverview of BLS Statistics
		Guide to Programs & Services
		Demographics
		Industries
		Business Costs
		Occupations
		GeographyResources For
		Business Leaders
		Consumers
		Developers
		Economists
		Investors
		Jobseekers
		Media
		Public Policymakers
		Researcher		
		Students & Teachers
		Survey Respondents
    Subjects
        Inflation & Prices
		Consumer Price Index
		Producer Price Indexes
		Import/Export Price Indexes
		Contract Escalation
		Price Index Research
		Pay & Benefits
		Employment Cost Index
		Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
						Wage Data by Occupation
		Earnings by Demographics
		Earnings by Industry
		County Wages  
		Benefits
		Modeled Wage Estimates		
		Compensation Research
		Strikes & Lockouts
		Wage Records from Unemployment Insurance
		Occupational RequirementsUnemployment
		National Unemployment Rate
		State & Local Unemployment Rates
		Unemployment Research
		Employment
		National Employment
		State & Local Employment
		County Employment 
		Worker Characteristics
		American Indian Report
		Employment Projections
		Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey
		Business Response Survey
		Employment by Occupation
		Work Experience Over Time
		Business Employment Dynamics
		Foreign Direct Investment
		Employment Research
		Workplace InjuriesProductivity
		Labor and Total Factor Productivity
		Productivity Research
		Spending & Time Use
		Consumer Expenditures
		How Americans Spend Time			
		International
		International Technical Cooperation
		Import/Export Price Indexes
		Geographic Information
		Northeast (Boston-New York)
		Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia)
		Southeast (Atlanta)
		Midwest (Chicago)
		Southwest (Dallas)
		Mountain-Plains (Kansas City)
		West (San Francisco)
    Data Tools
        Data Retrieval Tools
		BLS Popular Series
		Series Report
		Top Picks, One Screen, Multi-Screen, and Maps
		Data Finder
		Public Data APICharts and Applications
		Charts for Economic News Releases	
		CPI Inflation Calculator	
		Injury and Illness Calculator		
		Pay Measure Comparison
		Demographic Data Sources
		COVID-19 Economic Trends
		Industry Productivity Viewer
		Employment and Wages Data Viewer
		Industry Finder from the Quarterly Census of Employment and WagesCustomized Tables
		U.S. Economy at a Glance
		Regions, States & Areas at a Glance
		Industry at a Glance			
		Text Files
		News Release Tables
		
		More Sources of Data
		Restricted Data Access
		Discontinued Databases
		Questions & Answers
		Special Notices
    Publications
        Latest Publications
		The Economics Daily
		Monthly Labor Review
		Beyond the Numbers
		Spotlight on Statistics
		Reports
		Commissioner's Corner
		Videos
		Career OutlookOccupational Outlook Handbook
		Geographic Profile
		Handbook of Methods
		Research Papers
		Copyright Information
		Contact & Help
		Weekly Update
    Economic Releases
        Latest Releases
		Major Economic Indicators
		Schedules for news Releases
		By Month
		By News Release
		Current Year
		Prior Years
		Archived News ReleasesEmployment & Unemployment
		Monthly
		Quarterly, annual, and other
		Inflation & Prices
		Pay & Benefits & Workplace Injuries
		Productivity & Technology
		Employment Projections
		Regional News Releases
    Classroom
        K-12 Student & Teacher Resources		
        Games & Quizzes
		Student's Desk
		Teacher's Desk
		Questions & Answers
    Beta
        Redesigned News Releases


Overview
                     Concepts
                     Data sources
                     Design
                     CalculationEstimation formulasDurationSpecific vocational preparation (SVP)LiteracyStrengthLow posturesEstimate relationshipsBenchmarking, weighting, and imputationReliability of ORS estimates
                     Presentation
                     History
                     More Info
                 
                 
              
			                   	
                                  
		
		












	
	
	
	
	Methods Home
        About
		Programs
		Glossarysearch
	                 

				 				 				                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 					
				                
	             Handbook of Methods > 
					                      Occupational Requirements Survey

                 Handbook of Methods Occupational Requirements Survey Calculation
                     Occupational Requirements Survey: Calculation
				  
				   				   
			  
			   				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			  				
				
				
				
			   



The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) calculates categorical and continuous estimates of job requirements by occupation and occupational group. Categorical estimates provide the percentage of workers by job requirement. For many of the categorical estimates, the ORS also identifies the mode within a categorical grouping. Continuous estimates measure the average (or mean in hours, days, percentage of workday or pounds) or percentile for the job requirement.
See appendix A at the end of this section for a full list of published occupational requirements as well as a list of corresponding estimate types.
Estimation formulas
This section includes the formulas used to calculate the ORS estimates.
The formula for the percentage of workers with a given job requirement in the domain (occupation or occupational group) is
∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×Zig∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×100    ∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×Zig∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×100
where,
Iis the total number of establishments,
Giis the total number of sampled jobs in establishment i,
iis the establishment,
gis the occupation within establishment i,
∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×Zig×Qig∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×Zig∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×Zig×Qig∑i=1I∑g=1GiOCCFWig×Xig×Zigis the final sampled job weight for occupation gin establishment i,
Xig is1 if sampled job igmeets the condition set in the domain (denominator) condition and 0 otherwise, and
Zigis 1 if sampled job igmeets the condition set in the requirement condition and 0 otherwise.
The formula for the *average (mean)* estimate of a job requirement is
NRAF=∑A+∑B∑ANRAF=∑A+∑B∑A
where,
Iis the total number of establishments,
Giis the total number of sampled jobs in establishment i,
iis the establishment,
gis the occupation within establishment i,
SE (Y^)=1(R(1-k)2)∑r=1R(Y^r-Y^)2SE (Y^)=1(R(1-k)2)∑r=1R(Y^r-Y^)2is the final sampled job weight for occupation gin establishment i,
Xig is 1 if worker igmeets the condition set in the domain (denominator) condition and 0 otherwise,
Zigis 1 if worker igmeets the condition set in the requirement condition and 0 otherwise, and
Qigis the value of a quantity for a specific requirement for occupation gin establishment I.
The 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th, percentiles are calculated. The pth percentile is the value Qig,where the value of a quantity is for a specific category for occupation gin establishment i,such that
the sum of final sampled job weights () across sampled jobs with a value less than Qig is less than ppercent of all final sampled job weightsand
the sum of final sampled job weights () across sampled jobs with a value more than Qigis less than (100 – p) percent of all final sampled jobweights.It is possible that there is no specific sampled job igfor which both properties hold. This occurs when there exists a sampled job for which theof records whose value is less than Qigequals ppercent of the total weighted sampled job employment. In that situation, the pth percentile is the average (mean) of Qigand the value of the sampled job with the next lowest value.
**Ranges**
Where possible, ORS estimates are reported as point estimates; however, some estimates, that would otherwise go unpublished due to not meeting confidentiality or reliability publication criteria, are published as range values. Ranges use an estimate's confidence interval to provide either a value that the estimate is less than or a value that the estimate is greater than. These ranges are also used for categorical estimates (for example, the requirement is present or not present) that are equal to 0 or 100 percent where a confidence interval is not possible.
Duration
Duration corresponds to the time associated with occupational requirements needed to perform critical tasks. Exhibit 1 provides the duration levels with the corresponding percent or fraction of the workday that workers perform physical demands or are exposed to environmental conditions. See appendix B at the end of this section for a list of job requirements with associated duration.
Exhibit 1. Duration levels and amount of the workday associated with each level
Duration level
Presence of the requirement in the workdayNot present
Requirement is not present and there is no associated durationSeldom
Up to 2 percent of the workdayOccasionally
2 percent and up to 1/3 of the workdayFrequently
1/3 up to 2/3 of the workdayConstantly
2/3 or more of the workdaySource: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.The ORS calculates a percentage-of-workers estimate for each duration. Estimates of some physical demands as well as education, training, and experience include averages (means) and percentiles to convey duration. For example, the ORS measures sitting in hours and the average (mean) and percentile estimates (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles) are calculated for both hours and the percentage of the workday spent sitting for a specific occupation or occupational group.
Specific vocational preparation (SVP)
Although the ORS calculates most job requirement estimates from establishment responses about selected jobs' various tasks, some require an additional level of calculation. One of these is the specific vocational preparation (SVP) level, which is the amount of preparation time required for the worker to develop the skills needed to perform the job. The job requirements that contribute to the SVP are the minimum formal education, credentials, prior work experience, and on-the-job training. These requirements' associated time are then aggregated and used to determine the SVP level needed for the job. (See exhibit 2.)
Concurrent time due to credentials necessary for jobs that also require minimum formal education level, experience, or on-the-job training are not included separately in SVP. Concurrent time is reflected in the education, training, and experience requirements where the time overlaps with time necessary to obtain licenses, certifications, or other nondegree credentials.
Exhibit 2. Preparation time necessary for each specific vocational level
Specific vocational preparation (SVP) level
Preparation time1
Short demonstration only (4 hours or less)2
Anything beyond short demonstration up to and including 1 month3
Over 1 month up to and including 3 months4
Over 3 months up to and including 6 months5
Over 6 months up to and including 1 year6
Over 1 year up to and including 2 years7
Over 2 years up to and including 4 years8
Over 4 years up to and including 10 years9
Over 10 yearsSource: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.Literacy
The percentage of workers required and not required to read or write (in any language) to perform critical tasks is calculated when no minimum formal education is required. Since literacy requirements are only collected when there is no formal minimum education required, the sum of literacy requirements equal the percentage of workers with no minimum formal education requirement. When a high school diploma or higher degree is required, literacy requirements are not calculated.
Strength
Strength levels are derived from several physical requirements. The estimates reflect the amount of weight workers are required to lift or carry, how often, and whether standing or walking is required to perform critical tasks in the workday. The strength levels show whether jobs are considered sedentary, light work, medium work, heavy work, and very heavy work.
Exhibit 3. Determining strength level based on lifting or carrying duration or percentage of the workday spent standing
Strength level
Duration of lifting or carrying
Percent of workday standing⁠1Seldom
Occasionally
Frequently
ConstantlySedentary work
Up to 10 pounds
Up to 10 pounds
Negligible⁠2
No weight
Less than or equal to 1/3⁠3Light work
11–25 pounds
11–25 pounds
1–10 pounds
Negligible weight⁠2Medium work
26–50 pounds
26–50 pounds
11–25 pounds
1–10 poundsHeavy work
51–100 pounds
51–100 pounds
26–50 pounds
11–25 poundsVery heavy work
>100 pounds
>100 pounds
>50 pounds
>25 pounds⁠1 Standing estimates includes time spent standing, walking, and in low postures.
⁠2 Negligible weight includes anything lifted or carried weighing less than 1 pound.
⁠3 When the sedentary lifting or carrying requirements are met, and more than 1/3 of the workday is spent standing, light work is required.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.As noted, there are special cases for strength. In instances where field economists cannot determine certain job requirements from the respondent, they record these data as "unknown" and strength level is derived through imputation. See the section, "Benchmarking, weighting, and imputation" for more information.
Low postures
The low postures estimates indicate whether workers are required to perform critical tasks while crawling, crouching, kneeling, or stooping. The amount of the workday that workers are required to perform critical tasks in low postures is provided as the percentage of workers by duration level. Individual estimates of low postures are also published as required or worker choice. Job tasks may require workers to perform low postures, but workers may choose whether to crawl, crouch, kneel, or stoop to complete the work activities.
Estimate relationships
In some cases, the relationships between ORS estimates are more complex than a job requirement being present or not present. Relationships are shown through the category and additive groups assigned to estimates in the Excel Dataset. The category code is the same for all related estimates. For example, all sitting estimates have the same category code. The additive code is used to show how these estimates sum together. Sometimes estimates sum to 100 percent, whereas others sum to another estimate instead of 100 percent. For example, the percentage of workers utilizing and not utilizing personal protective equipment (PPE) to mitigate risks that go along with exposure to heights together sum to the percentage of workers exposed to heights. See appendix C for more information on the relationships shown in the additive codes.
Benchmarking, weighting, and imputation
The ORS program addresses establishment refusals, item nonresponse, as well as out of business and out of scope units. The ORS program adjusts the weights of the responding establishments during the estimation process to address nonresponse (specifically unit nonresponse). Imputation is used to address item nonresponse, which is when an establishment responds to the survey but is unable or unwilling to provide all the occupational requirement data needed for a given sampled job. Benchmarking adjusts final survey weights to reflect the current employment distribution in the economy.
Benchmarking
The ORS uses benchmarking to adjust the weight of each establishment in the survey and match the most current distribution of employment by several establishment and occupational characteristics. The ORS establishment sample is adjusted according to data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) Longitudinal Database, a file of units reporting to the Railroad Retirement Board, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, and the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey. The QCEW, railroad information, and OEWS survey provide historical employment data needed for the benchmarking process, but since these sources do not have current employment data, the ORS also uses CES to make an adjustment to employment. The benchmark process updates the initial employment weights, assigned during sampling, by current employment. Benchmarking ensures that survey estimates reflect the most current employment distribution by industry, employment size, geographic area, and major occupational group.
As an example of the benchmarking process, 40 private industry, 10 local government, and 5 state government units in the service sector were selected from the ORS sampling frame. These units consist of establishments employing 200,000 private industry workers, 30,000 local government workers, and 10,000 state government workers. If, by the time of survey processing, the private service sector experienced an employment increase of 10,000 workers (5 percent) and there is no increase in employment in the service sectors of state and local government, then the sample would underrepresent current employment in theprivate industry service sector in the absence of benchmarking. In this example, the ORS program would adjust thesample weights of the 40 service sector firms in private industry to ensure that the number of workers in establishments in the sampling frame rises to 210,000. The ownership employment counts for the private industry service sector would then reflect the current proportions of 84 percent for private industry, 12 percent for local government, and 4 percent for state governmentemployment.
Weighting
An establishment is considered responding if it provided information for at least one sampled job. Similarly, a nonresponding establishment is one that is unable or unwilling to provide information for at least one sampled job. If the contact person (respondent) for an establishment refuses to participate, then the associated establishment is considered nonresponding. The ORS program adjusts weights for unit (establishment) nonresponse by redistributing the weights of nonresponding establishments to similar establishments. The ORS program groups similar respondents into cells that are defined by characteristics such as the industry, size class, and geographic area of the establishment. For example, if the nonresponding establishment was in the manufacturing industry and had an employment of 350 workers, the ORS program would adjust the weights of responding manufacturing establishments with 100–499 workers during estimation. Applied at the establishment level, this adjustment is a nonresponse adjustment factor (NRAF), and it is calculated using the following formula:

where
∑A= weighted employment of all usable establishments in the nonresponsecell, and
∑B= weighted employment of all viable but not usable establishments in the nonresponse cell.
If there are no responding establishments to reweight within the industry or employment size group, then additional responding units from similar geographic areas are considered.Establishments no longer in operation or out of the scope of the survey and establishments with no workers within the scope of the survey are considered unviable and excluded from survey estimates.
The ORS program may also adjust weights for sampled job nonresponse, which is when an establishment does not provide any occupational requirements data for a given sampled job. The ORS program addresses sampled job nonresponse during the interview with an adjustment that redistributes the weights of nonresponding sampled jobs to responding sampled jobs in the same occupational group, ownership, industry, and size class.
In addition to the job nonresponse adjustment factor, final occupational weights consider the sampling process used to select jobs, the establishment weight, and overall employment. TheDesignsection provides more information on the job selection process.
The ORS program applies additional adjustment factors to special situations that may have occurred during data collection. For example, when a sample unit is one of two establishments owned by a given company and the respondent provides data for both locations combined instead of data for the sampled unit, the ORS program adjusts the weight of the sampled unit to reflect the employment data for the sampled unit.
Imputation
Item nonresponse occurs when an establishment responds to the survey but is unable or unwilling to provide some of the occupational requirements for a given sampled job. Item nonresponse is addressed through item imputation in certain situations. Item imputation replaces missing values for an item or items with values derived from sampled jobs within similar establishments with similar worker characteristics that have a value for the item. For ORS estimates, items with missing values are imputed within groups of ORS job requirements that are related. For example, one ORS group refers to categorical variables only and includes such requirements as vision and driving. Within the group, the ORS imputes values by a process that matches sampled jobs using occupational information from similar occupations in similar establishments.
For estimates that are calculated from multiple values, such as strength and specific vocational preparation (SVP), missing component values are imputed to calculate these estimates.
For more information, see estimation within the research section of the ORS website.
Reliability of ORS estimates
To assist users in confirming the reliability of ORS estimates, the ORS publishes standard errors. Standard errors provide users with a measure of the precision of an estimate to ensure that it is within an acceptable range for their intended purpose. The standard errors are calculated from collected and imputed data. The ORS program is researching methods for estimating the variance excluding imputed values. Examples on how to build confidence intervals using standard errors are included in thestandard error sectionof theORS website.
The ORS derives estimates from sampled jobs within responding establishments. Twotypes of errors are possible in an estimate based on a sample survey: sampling and nonsampling errors. Sampling errors occur because the sample makes up only a part of the population it represents. The sample used for the survey is one of several possible samples that could have been selected under the sample design, each producing its own estimate. A measure of the variation among sample estimates is the standard error.Nonsampling errors are data errors that stem from any source other than sampling error,such as data collection errors and data processing errors.
Standard errors can be used to measure the precision with which an estimate from a particular sample approximates the expected result of all possible samples. The chances are about 68 out of 100 that an estimate from the survey differs from a complete population figure by less than the standard error. The chances are about 90 out of 100 that this difference is less than 1.6 times the standard error. Statements of comparison appearing in ORS publications are significant at a level of 1.6 standard errors or better. This means that, for differences cited, the estimated difference is more than 1.6 times the standard error of the difference.
The ORS uses balanced repeated replication (BRR) to estimate the standard error. The procedure for BRR starts by first partitioning the sample into variance strata composed of a single sampling stratum or clusters of sampling strata, and then splitting the sample units in each variance stratum evenly into two variance primary sampling units (PSUs). Next, the ORS program chooses half-samples so that each contains exactly one variance PSU from each variance stratum. Choices are not random but are designed to yield a balanced collection of half-samples. By using half-samples, the ORS program can compute a replicate estimate with the same formula for the regular or full-sample estimate, except that the final weights are adjusted. If a unit is in the half-sample, its weight is multiplied by (2 - k); if not, its weight is multiplied by k. For all ORS publications, k= 0.5, so the multipliers are 1.5 and 0.5.
The BRR estimate of the standard error with Rhalf samples is

where
the summation is over all replicates of half-samples r= 1,...,R,
is the rth replicate estimate,and
is the full-sample estimate.
Quality assurance
The ORS program uses a variety of quality assurance programs to mitigate collection and processing errors by using data collection reinterviews, observed interviews, computer edits of the data, and systematic professional review of the data. These programs also serve as a training device to provide feedback to field economists, or data collectors, on errors and the sources of errors that can be remedied by improved collection instructions or computer-processing edits. Field economists receive extensive training to maintain high standards in data collection.
****Once estimates of occupational requirements are produced, the estimates are validated. The focus of the validation is to compare the estimates with expectations for them. This process assesses the reliability of the estimates, as well as ensures weighting, benchmarking, and imputation are working as expected.Although not a time series, the validation accounts for the economic events each year that might have an impact on collection and estimates.Expectations are based on prior year estimates and similar estimates from other sources of data, such as theOccupational Information Network (O*NET). In addition, ORS estimates between similar occupations are compared, both for reasonableness and for when occupations are newly published.
The ORS program investigates estimates that deviate from their expectations to ensure that the underlying data are consistent with ORS collection procedures and that the calculation is consistent with ORS statistical procedures.
Before publishing any estimate, the ORS program reviews it to make sure that it meets specified statistical reliability and confidentiality requirements. See data review and estimation tabs on theresearch sectionof theORS website. Estimates that are consistent with these procedures are designated as fit for use and released in BLS publications.
Appendix A. List of occupational requirements by availability of estimate type
Occupational requirement
Potential estimate for occupational requirement?Categorical
ContinuousPercentage
Mode
Mean
Percentile⁠1Cognitive and mental requirementsAbility to pause work
Yes
Yes
No
NoControl of workload
Yes
Yes
No
NoMachinery, equipment, or software
Yes
Yes
No
NoNumerical performance targets
Yes
Yes
No
NoPeople
Yes
Yes
No
NoSelf-paced
Yes
Yes
No
NoOther external source
Yes
Yes
No
NoInteraction with the general public
Yes
Yes
No
NoPeople skills
Yes
Yes
No
NoTelework available
Yes
Yes
No
NoProblem solving
Yes
Yes
No
NoVerbal interactions
Yes
Yes
No
NoWork around crowds
Yes
Yes
No
NoWork pace
Yes
Yes
No
NoVaries
Yes
Yes
No
NoConsistent, generally slow
Yes
Yes
No
NoConsistent, generally fast
Yes
Yes
No
NoWork review
Yes
Yes
No
NoFrequency of work being checked
Yes
Yes
No
NoPresence of supervisor
Yes
Yes
No
NoSupervising duties
Yes
Yes
No
NoEducation, training, and experience requirementsCredentials
Yes
Yes
No
NoCertification
Yes
Yes
Yes
YesLicense
Yes
Yes
Yes
YesEducational certificate
Yes
Yes
Yes
YesMinimum formal education
Yes
Yes
No
NoNo formal education required
Yes
Yes
No
NoHigh school
Yes
Yes
No
NoVocational high school
Yes
Yes
No
NoAssociate's
Yes
Yes
No
NoVocational associate's
Yes
Yes
No
NoBachelor's
Yes
Yes
No
NoMaster's
Yes
Yes
No
NoProfessional
Yes
Yes
No
NoDoctorate
Yes
Yes
No
NoLiteracy, if no formal education
Yes
Yes
No
NoOn-the-job training
Yes
Yes
Yes
YesPrior work experience
Yes
Yes
Yes
YesSpecific vocational preparation, SVP
Yes
Yes
No
NoEnvironmental conditionsExtreme cold (non-weather related)
Yes
Yes
No
NoExtreme heat (non-weather related)
Yes
Yes
No
NoHazardous contaminants
Yes
Yes
No
NoUse of personal protective equipment
Yes
Yes
No
NoHeavy vibrations
Yes
Yes
No
NoHeights
Yes
Yes
No
NoUse of personal protective equipment
Yes
Yes
No
NoHumidity (non-weather related)
Yes
Yes
No
NoProximity to moving mechanical parts
Yes
Yes
No
NoUse of personal protective equipment
Yes
Yes
No
NoOutdoors⁠2
Yes
Yes
No
NoNoise intensity level
Yes
Yes
No
NoQuiet
Yes
Yes
No
NoModerate
Yes
Yes
No
NoLoud
Yes
Yes
No
NoVery loud
Yes
Yes
No
NoUse of personal protective equipment
Yes
Yes
No
NoWetness (non-weather related)
Yes
Yes
No
NoPhysical demandsClimbing
Yes
Yes
No
NoStructural ramps or stairs
Yes
Yes
No
NoWork-related ramps or stairs
Yes
Yes
No
NoLadders, ropes, or scaffolds
Yes
Yes
No
NoDriving
Yes
Yes
No
NoHearing
Yes
Yes
No
NoIn person speech
Yes
Yes
No
NoTelephone
Yes
Yes
No
NoOther remote speech
Yes
Yes
No
NoOther sounds
Yes
Yes
No
NoLifting or carrying
Yes
Yes
No
NoMaximum weight lifted or carried
No
No
Yes
YesManipulationFine manipulation
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both hands
Yes
Yes
No
NoKeyboarding
Yes
Yes
No
NoFoot or leg controls
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both
Yes
Yes
No
NoGross manipulation
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both hands
Yes
Yes
No
NoPosturesSitting⁠3
Yes
No
Yes
YesStanding⁠4
Yes
No
Yes
YesChoice of sitting or standing
Yes
Yes
No
NoLow postures
Yes
Yes
No
NoCrawling⁠5
Yes
Yes
No
NoCrouching⁠5
Yes
Yes
No
NoKneeling⁠5
Yes
Yes
No
NoStooping⁠5
Yes
Yes
No
NoPushing or pulling
Yes
Yes
No
NoWith feet or legs
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both
Yes
Yes
No
NoWith hands or arms
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both
Yes
Yes
No
NoReaching
Yes
Yes
No
NoReaching at or below the shoulder
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both hands
Yes
Yes
No
NoReaching overhead
Yes
Yes
No
NoOne or both hands
Yes
Yes
No
NoSpeaking
Yes
Yes
No
NoStrength level
Yes
Yes
No
NoSedentary
Yes
Yes
No
NoLight
Yes
Yes
No
NoMedium
Yes
Yes
No
NoHeavy
Yes
Yes
No
NoVery heavy
Yes
Yes
No
NoVision
Yes
Yes
No
NoFar
Yes
Yes
No
NoNear
Yes
Yes
No
NoPeripheral
Yes
Yes
No
NoFootnotes:
⁠1 Percentile estimates are calculated at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th.
⁠2 All weather related exposure is captured in exposure to the outdoors.
⁠3 Sitting estimates includes time spent sitting, lying down, and when workers have the choice between sitting and standing.
⁠4 Standing estimates includes time spent standing, walking, and in low postures.
⁠5 Estimates include required, not required, and choice to perform critical tasks in a particular low posture.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.Appendix B. List of occupational requirements with associated duration
Occupational requirement
Potential estimate for occupational requirement?Duration levels ⁠1
PercentileEducation, training, and experience requirementsCredentialsCertification
No
Yes ⁠2License
No
Yes ⁠2Educational certificate
No
Yes ⁠2On-the-job training
No
Yes ⁠2Prior work experience
No
Yes ⁠2Environmental conditionsExtreme cold (non-weather related)
Yes
NoExtreme heat (non-weather related)
Yes
NoHazardous contaminants
Yes
NoHeavy vibrations
Yes
NoHeights
Yes
NoHumidity (non-weather related)
Yes
NoProximity to moving mechanical parts
Yes
NoOutdoors
Yes
NoWetness (non-weather related)
Yes
NoPhysical demandsClimbingWork-related ramps or stairs
Yes
NoLadders, ropes, or scaffolds
Yes
NoFine manipulation
Yes
NoFoot or leg controls
Yes
NoGross manipulation
Yes
NoKeyboarding
Yes
NoLifting or carrying
Yes
NoMaximum weight lifted or carried
No
Yes ⁠3Low postures
Yes
NoPushing or pullingWith feet or legs
Yes
NoWith hands or arms
Yes
NoReachingReaching at or below the shoulder
Yes
NoReaching overhead
Yes
NoSitting ⁠4
No
Yes ⁠5Standing ⁠6
No
Yes ⁠5Speaking
Yes
NoFootnotes:
⁠1 Duration levels correspond to seldom, occasionally, frequently, constantly
⁠2 Estimates provided as number of associated days.
⁠3 Estimates provided as number of associated pounds.
⁠4 Sitting estimates include time spent sitting or lying down.
⁠5 Estimates provides as percentage of the workday and number of the hours in the workday.
⁠6 Standing estimates include time spent standing, walking, or in low postures.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.Appendix C. Definition of additive codes
Additive code
Additive relationship000
Estimate is not additive. The category code provides the relationship with other requirements.⁠10XX
Estimates sum to 100 percent and no additional relationships exist.AXX
Estimates sum to 100 percent and additional relationships exist.BXX
Estimates do not sum to 100 percent but sum to related estimates.CXX
Estimates do not sum to 100 percent but sum to related estimates and correspond to the sum of the B estimates.DXX/EXX/FXX/GXX
Estimates sum to 100 percent and are related to other estimates with the same category code that sum to 100 percent (denoted by AXX).HXX/IXX/JXX/KXX
Estimates sum to 100 percent and are related to other estimates with the same category code.LXX/NXX/PXX
Estimates do not sum to 100 percent but sum to related A estimates.MXX/OXX/QXX
Estimates do not sum to 100 percent but sum to related estimates and correspond to the L, N, and P estimates.XXX
Estimates are not additive, but a relationship exists.YXX
Estimates sum to average workday.ZXX
Estimates sum to 100 percent of the workday.Footnote:
⁠1 Examples of non-additive estimates include percentile distributions.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.

				    				   
				   				   
                 Last Modified Date: January 29, 2024 Facebook
 Twitter
 LinkedIn


Home
   Subjects
   Data Tools
   Publications
   Economic Releases
   Classroom
   Beta


**U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics**
Division of Information and Marketing Services 
PSB Suite 2850 
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE  
Washington, DC 20212-0001 Telephone:1-202-691-5200 Telecommunications Relay Service:7-1-1 www.bls.gov/OPUB Contact Us
 resources  Inspector General (OIG)
								Budget and Performance	
								Department of Labor Grants									
								No Fear Act
								USA.gov
								Vote.gov
 about the site  Sitemap						
								Freedom of Information Act
								Privacy and Security Statement
								Disclaimers
								Linking and Copyright Info	
								Important Website Notices
								Help and Tutorials
								Babel Notice: accessing language services


Twitter Youtube Email


- Publications
- Handbook of Methods