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

August 2024 special release ORS estimates

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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. The ORS provides information on the formal minimum education required to perform jobs, not the educational attainment of workers.

In addition to the final second wave reference year 2023 estimates first released on February 8, 2024, two new datasets based on final second wave data have been produced. These datasets are available in Excel and contain cumulative estimates not previously published as part of the final second wave dataset. The cumulative estimates in these datasets are the sum of multiple ORS estimates for a single job requirement. These special release datasets contain information for occupations with a specific vocational preparation (SVP) 1-2 and weekly hours of 35-40, as well as cumulative estimates for the selected job requirements listed below.

SVP 1-2 and 35-40 weekly hours:

These estimates are for a subset of workers that require one month or less of specific vocational preparation (SVP level 1 or 2) and have an average weekly work schedule between 35-40 hours.

The dataset includes three estimates for each occupation.

Percentage of workers with no minimum education or literacy requirement
Cumulative estimate that includes all workers with no minimum education (i.e., workers with no literacy requirement as well as workers with literacy required are both included)
Cumulative percentage of workers that required a high school diploma or less (i.e., workers with no minimum education as well as workers with a high school diploma required are included)

In 2023, 25.2 percent of restaurant cooks worked an average of 35-40 weekly hours, required an SVP 1-2, and required a high school diploma or less. The remaining restaurant cooks either did not work 35-40 weekly hours, required more than SVP 1-2, or required more than a high school diploma. (See chart 1).

Cumulative estimates for selected job requirements:

This dataset includes non-cumulative and cumulative estimates for the percentage of workers with the following job requirements:

Strength
Lifting or carrying (by duration level)
Push or pull (with hands or arms as well as with feet or legs)
Reaching (overhead as well as at or below shoulder)
Gross manipulation
Fine manipulation
Foot or leg controls
Keyboarding
Low postures
Climbing (ramps or stairs as well as ladders, ropes, scaffolding)
Speaking
Exposures (outdoors, extreme cold, extreme heat, wetness, humidity, heavy vibrations, hazardous contaminants, moving mechanical parts, heights)
Noise intensity level
Minimum education
SVP
Frequency of work being checked
Verbal interactions
Problem solving

The estimates in this dataset were derived for additive groups with three or more ORS estimates. More information on which estimates are additive is available on the category and additive codes factsheet.

Many of these cumulative estimates are provided for the duration level of a requirement (not present, seldom, occasional, frequent, constant). For these job requirements, the estimates begin at the lower end of the duration requirement and provide cumulative estimates for each duration at or below the specified level. For example, the cumulative estimate for reaching overhead occasionally would indicate the percentage of workers required to reach overhead occasionally, seldom, and not at all (not present). Non-duration categories, like frequency of work being checked, follow the same structure and sum estimates from the lower end of the collected field to the higher end. This dataset includes the additive groups in Table 1.

Table 1. Additive groups with associated estimates
Additive Group	Estimates
Strength level	Sedentary, light, medium, heavy, very heavy
Weight lifted or carried	No weight, negligible weight, >1lb and <= 10lbs, >10lbs and <=25lbs, >25lbs and <=50lbs, >50lbs and <=75lbs, >75lbs and <=100lbs, over 100lbs
Duration levels	Not present, seldom, occasional, frequent, constant; some environmental conditions include “not exposed” and “fully mitigated”
Noise intensity levels	Quiet, moderate, loud, very loud
Minimum formal education	No minimum education, high school diploma, high school vocational, associate’s degree, associate's vocational degree, bachelor's degree, master’s degree, professional degree, doctorate degree
SVP	Up to 4 hours, over 4 hours through 1 month, over 1 month through 3 months, over 3 months through 6 months, over 6 months through 1 year, over 1 year through 2 years, over 2 years through 4 years, over 4 years through 10 years, over 10 years
Frequency of work checked	Less often than weekly, less than once per day but at least once per week, once per day, more than once per day
Verbal interactions	Once per day or less often, not more than once per hour but more than once per day, not constantly but more than once per hour, constantly/every few minutes)
Problem solving	Less often than monthly including never, not every week but at least once per month, not every day but at least once per week, once per day, more than once per day

Table 2 demonstrates how these cumulative estimates are structured across selected requirements using duration levels (see table 2).

Table 2. Percentage of fast food cooks with selected requirements, cumulative estimates, 2023
Requirement:	Not present	Seldom or less	Occasional or less
Gross manipulation	<0.5%	<0.5%	2.5%
Speaking	18.5%	26.3%	85.1%
Low postures	20.1%	59.2%	>99.5%
Reaching overhead	26.6%	62.7%	98.7%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

As the ORS program continues to evolve, additional datasets may be published to meet user needs.

Additional resources:

Articles:

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