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Occupational Requirements Survey
Bureau of Labor Statistics > Occupational Requirements Survey > About > Info for Survey Participants

Information for Survey Participants

The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) is conducted by the BLS under an agreement with the Social Security Administration (SSA). ORS provides information about specific work-related requirements that will be used by SSA to help make decisions for their disability programs.

If you’ve been asked to participate in the ORS and have questions, you can look over commonly asked questions and answers for respondents or reach out to us.

General Information

Collection forms

Collection manuals

The procedures and instructions used by BLS during ORS data collection are reviewed annually in conjunction with the fielding of each sample. The first wave of collection consisted of three samples and correspond to reference year 2018 estimates. The second wave of collection includes five samples and correspond to preliminary estimates each year until final reference year 2023 estimates are published. Similarly, the third wave of collection will contain five samples captured over a five-year period.

  • Current third wave collection manual (PDF)
  • Final second wave collection manual (PDF)
  • First wave (three sample groups for the following collection periods)
    • 2017-2018 (PDF)
    • 2016-2017 (PDF)
    • 2015-2016 (PDF