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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Occupational Requirements Survey > Publications > Factsheets

Category and additive codes

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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. Relationships between the estimates are shown through the category and additive groups assigned to estimates in the Excel dataset and the database query tools.

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 estimates sum together. Sometimes estimates sum to 100 percent while others sum to another estimate. (See Table 1.)

Table 1. Definition of additive codes
Additive code	Additive relationship
000	Estimate is not additive. The category code provides the relationship with other requirements.1
0XX	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.
Footnotes: 1 Examples of non-additive estimates include percentile distributions. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey.

Some job requirements are presented as required or not required. For example, working around crowds was required for 2.2 percent of civilian workers and was not required for 97.8 percent. Together these estimates sum to 100 percent. All working around crowds estimates have a category code of 091 and an additive code of 091. The additive code begins with a zero which indicates the estimates in the category sum to 100 percent and no additional relationships exist.

Many environmental conditions and physical demands indicate both whether the job requirements are required as well as the associated duration of the workday required to complete critical tasks. As an example, consider outdoor exposure as shown in table 2. All outdoor exposure estimates have a category code 065. The percentage of workers not exposed to the outdoors and the four duration estimates (seldom, occasionally, frequently, constantly) sum to 100 percent of workers. This is indicated with the additive code A65.

Additionally, the percentage of workers exposed to the outdoors is equal to the sum of the four duration estimates. The additive code for all workers exposed to the outdoors is B65 as it does not sum to 100 percent but does sum to the related duration estimates.

Table 2. Percentage of civilian workers with outdoor exposures, 2024
Exposure to the outdoors	Estimate	Category code	Additive code
Exposed	35.7	065	B65
Seldom (up to 2% of the workday)	10.6	065	A65
Occasionally (2% up to 1/3 of the workday)	17.4	065	A65
Frequently (1/3 up to 2/3 of the workday)	4.3	065	A65
Constantly (2/3 or more of the workday)	3.4	065	A65
Not exposed	64.3	065	A65
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

Some physical demands measure whether one or both extremities are needed when completing the job requirement. One of these is fine manipulation.[1] All fine manipulation estimates have a category code 036. Fine manipulation required, not required, and the four duration estimates follow the same additive code construct as outdoor exposure. Only one hand was needed for <40 percent of civilian workers requiring fine manipulation, and 61.3 percent of workers required both hands. These sum to the total percentage of workers requiring fine manipulation, >99.5 percent. The additive code for the one or both hands estimates is C36 which shows that they add to the related B estimates.

Where categories have groups of estimates that sum to 100 percent and that relate to the A estimates, the additive groups begin with a D, E, F, or G. Low posture estimates have a category code 001.[2] These estimates measure whether low postures are required, not required, and the durations. Additionally, estimates for each of the four low postures (crawling, crouching, kneeling, and stooping) are published. Kneeling was not required for 63.8 percent of civilian workers, 31.9 percent of workers were able to choose kneeling when low work was required, and 4.3 percent required kneeling when completing low work. These sum to 100 percent and are related to the low postures A estimates. The additive code for kneeling estimates is F01.

For categories with multiple related groups that sum to 100 percent, the additive code begins with H, I, J, or K. The distinction between these estimates and those in the previous paragraph (D, E, F, or G) is that they are not subgroups, and do not have related A estimates. For example, all hearing requirements estimates have a category code 059. Requirements to hear over the telephone have an additive code J59 while requirements to hear in-person speech have an additive code H59. Both are types of hearing requirements measured and the additive groups sum to 100 percent. (See table 3.)

Table 3. Percentage of civilian workers with hearing requirements, 2024
Hearing requirements	Required	Not required	Category code	Additive code
In person speech	>99.5	<0.5	059	H59
Other remote speech	24.1	75.9	059	I59
Telephone	76.0	24.0	059	J59
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

Additive groups that begin with L, M, N, O, P, and Q are all credential estimates and part of the education, training, and experience requirements.^[3] All credential estimates have a category code 012. Credentials were required for 40.4 percent of all civilian workers and not required for 59.6 percent. These sum to 100 percent of workers. Credential requirements include licenses or certifications, educational certificates, and apprenticeships.

Both the Y and Z additive groups are related to the sitting and standing requirements.^[4] All sitting estimates have a category code 078 while all standing estimates have a category code 077. For the purposes of time and percentage of workday, workers are always considered to be sitting or standing. Civilian workers spent an average of 3.55 hours sitting and 4.13 hours standing per workday. Adding these together gives the average workday, and both estimates have an additive code beginning with a Y. On average, civilian workers spent 45.0 percent of the workday sitting and 55.0 percent of the workday standing. These sum to 100 percent and have additive codes Z78 and Z77, respectively.

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For additional information on occupational requirements see the ORS homepage or download the ORS complete dataset to explore the latest estimates.

[1] See the gross and fine manipulation factsheet for more information on these requirements.

[2] See the low postures factsheet for more information on these requirements.