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In 2019, 75.3 percent of civilian workers were required to interact with the general public. One hundred percent of lawyers, healthcare social workers, and emergency medical technicians were required to interact with the general public. Additionally, 72.0 percent of compliance officers, 61.8 percent of accountants and auditors, and 28.1 percent of restaurant cooks were required to interact with the general public.
Occupation | Percent who must interact with the general public |
---|---|
Emergency medical technicians |
100.0% |
Healthcare social workers |
100.0 |
Lawyers |
100.0 |
Medical and health services managers |
89.8 |
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers |
83.7 |
Human resources managers |
82.9 |
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers |
81.6 |
General and operations managers |
80.3 |
Compliance officers |
72.0 |
Stockers and order fillers |
70.1 |
Food preparation workers |
69.6 |
Accountants and auditors |
61.8 |
Computer user support specialists |
59.6 |
Mechanical engineers |
53.1 |
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners |
52.5 |
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks |
49.5 |
Financial and investment analysts |
31.2 |
Restaurant cooks |
28.1 |
Packers and packagers, hand |
22.0 |
Industrial truck and tractor operators |
16.5 |
Interacting with the general public includes working with people other than coworkers, having a large number of people rotating in and out on a regular basis, and in-person or telephone contacts. Working near or around the general public without any interaction does not count as interacting with the public. Interacting with the general public also does not include indirect contacts such as email.
In 2019, 4.3 percent of civilian workers were required to work around crowds. Among police and sheriff’s patrol officers, 81.5 percent were required to work around crowds, as were 69.4 percent of firefighters and 29.1 percent of waiters and waitresses.
Occupation | Required | Not required |
---|---|---|
Police and sheriff's patrol officers |
81.5% | 18.5% |
Firefighters |
69.4 | 30.6 |
Security guards |
39.2 | 60.8 |
Correctional officers and jailers |
37.9 | 62.1 |
Waiters and waitresses |
29.1 | 70.9 |
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education |
16.2 | 83.8 |
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners |
7.6 | 92.4 |
Working around crowds occurs when a job meets all of the following conditions:
Many unfamiliar people are present, compared with the space available.
Movement is restricted.
The arrangement of the crowd is temporary.
There is a certain level of disorganization.
Workers are not separated from unfamiliar people by counters, dividers, or other objects.
These data are from the Occupational Requirements Survey. These are preliminary estimates and represent the first year of a 5-year sample period. For more information, see “Occupational Requirements in the United States — 2019.”
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Three-fourths of workers had to interact with the public in 2019; 4.3 percent worked around crowds at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/three-fourths-of-workers-had-to-interact-with-the-public-in-2019-4-3-percent-worked-around-crowds.htm (visited October 31, 2024).