An official website of the United States government

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.

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

Strength and specific vocational preparation up to 1 month

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.

Specific vocational preparation (SVP) captures the minimum amount of preparation time needed to develop the aptitude needed for basic performance of the job and is published as part of the education, training, and experience requirements. Preparation time is divided into nine levels, ranging from as little as 4 hours to more than 10 years. See the ORS Handbook of Methods for all SVP levels and how they are calculated. This factsheet focuses on the first two SVP levels:

SVP level 1 – Short demonstration only (up to 4 hours)
SVP level 2 – Beyond a short demonstration and up through 1 month

The ORS publishes five strength levels (sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy), which are part of the published physical demands, and are calculated from the weight and duration associated with lifting, carrying, and in some cases, standing. For more information on how strength estimates are calculated, see the Strength factsheet.

In the summer of 2024, the ORS program published estimates for civilian workers combining SVP and strength from the final second wave data (Table 1). In 2023, 34.1 percent of civilian workers required no more than 1 month to obtain the vocational preparation needed for a job. Breaking this down further, 3.6 percent of civilian workers required an SVP level 1 or 2 and had sedentary strength requirements.

Table 1. Percentage of civilian workers with specific vocational preparation up to 1 month by strength level required, 2023
Strength levels	Estimate	Standard error
All strength levels, SVP 1-2	34.1	^[1]
Strength required is sedentary	3.6	^[1]
Strength required is light work	13.5	^[1]
Strength required is medium work	13.4	^[1]
Strength required is heavy work	3.3	^[1]
Strength required is very heavy work	<0.5%	^[2]
Footnotes: ^[1] Standard error is less than 0.5. ^[2] Standard error is not available Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

These estimates are not available by detailed occupation, however, the ORS complete dataset can help in understanding where these jobs exist in the economy. This factsheet uses the dataset to highlight occupations requiring SVP 1 or 2 at each strength level. The results can be recreated by using a pivot table to view multiple occupational requirements, see the pivot table guide for instructions.

SVP 1-2 and sedentary strength

Work is considered sedentary in occupations where most of the day is spent sitting and workers are lifting or carrying items of little weight for at most up to 2/3 of the workday. Table 2 displays occupations requiring SVP 1 or 2 and sedentary strength. In 2023, 58.9 percent of receptionists and information clerks required either an SVP 1 or 2 and 74.3 percent required sedentary strength.

Table 2. Percentage of workers with SVP 1 or 2 and sedentary strength, 2023
Occupation	SVP 1	SVP 2	Sedentary strength
Receptionists and information clerks	2.8	56.1	74.3
Insurance sales agents	<0.5	30.1	96.4
Word processors and typists	<10	26.3	>99.5
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	0.8	35.0	88.7
Bill and account collectors	<0.5	25.7	97.6
Data entry keyers	<0.5	32.2	87.2
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

SVP 1-2 and light strength

Occupations requiring light strength do not lift or carry more than 25 pounds but may spend the majority of their day standing. In 2023, 13.5 percent of civilian workers required an SVP 1 or 2 and light strength to perform the critical tasks of their job. Some occupations where workers required both SVP 1 or 2 and light strength requirements are shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Percentage of workers with SVP 1 or 2 and light strength, 2023
Occupation	SVP 1	SVP 2	Light strength
Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop	1.6	92.4	89.9
Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers	8.3	89.0	77.2
Maids and housekeeping cleaners	0.8	90.6	70.5
Amusement and recreation attendants	3.7	90.2	67.7
Waiters and waitresses	0.7	76.2	78.3
Fast food and counter workers	4.1	89.9	60.2
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	<0.5	69.3	82.5
Food servers, nonrestaurant	0.6	79.9	69.5
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

SVP 1-2 and medium strength

Workers in occupations that required medium strength may lift or carry up to 50 pounds when performing the critical tasks of their job. In 2023, 13.4 percent of civilian workers required an SVP 1 or 2 and medium strength. Table 4 provides some occupations with these requirements.

Table 4. Percentage of workers with SVP 1 or 2 and medium strength, 2023
Occupation	SVP 1	SVP 2	Medium strength
Helpers--production workers	5.7	88.4	76.5
Animal caretakers	<0.5	74.7	88.4
Packers and packagers, hand	14.2	77.6	71.2
Machine feeders and offbearers	13.0	72.1	69.5
Cooks, fast food	2.6	86.9	64.3
Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers	<5	62.0	86.1
Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers	7.3	81.3	57.4
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

SVP 1-2 and heavy strength

Workers in occupations that required heavy strength may lift or carry up to 100 pounds when performing the critical tasks of their job. In 2023, 3.3 percent of civilian workers required an SVP 1 or 2 and heavy strength. See Table 5 for some occupations with these requirements.

Table 5. Percentage of workers with SVP 1 or 2 and heavy strength, 2023
Occupation	SVP 1	SVP 2	Heavy strength
Light truck drivers	7.8	69.3	64.2
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	14.8	69.9	33.9
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

SVP 1-2 and very heavy strength

In 2023, less than 0.5 percent of civilian workers required an SVP 1 or 2 and very heavy strength. Very heavy strength involves lifting or carrying a minimum of 25 pounds, but these workers may be required to lift or carry items over 100 pounds. For example, if an ambulance driver is required to lift or carry a person weighing over 100 pounds, this would be considered very heavy strength. See Table 6.

Table 6. Percentage of workers with SVP 1 or 2 and very heavy strength, 2023
Occupation	SVP 1	SVP 2	Very heavy strength
Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians	-	83.7	79.7
Note: Dashes indicate that estimate was not publishable. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey

Additional resources:

Articles:

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

Last Modified Date: August 13, 2026