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The flexibility to pause work and take short, unscheduled breaks throughout the workday was available to 55.6 percent of civilian workers in 2021. The choice of sitting or standing was available to 43.2 percent of civilian workers. Discretion over when tasks were worked on, or self-paced work, was available to 16.5 percent of workers, and 9.6 percent were able to complete critical job functions while teleworking.
Occupational group | Ability to pause work |
Choice of sitting or standing |
Workload is self-paced |
Telework |
---|---|---|---|---|
All workers |
55.6% | 43.2% | 16.5% | 9.6% |
Management |
97.3 | 88.9 | 60.0 | 29.6 |
Business and financial operations |
97.3 | 95.9 | 49.8 | 40.8 |
Computer and mathematical |
95.3 | 90.8 | 38.3 | 47.6 |
Legal |
94.6 | 90.7 | 45.3 | 50.1 |
Architecture and engineering |
93.8 | 85.5 | 51.1 | 29.3 |
Community and social service |
82.0 | 82.7 | 21.8 | 12.5 |
Life, physical, and social science |
81.9 | 75.5 | 53.1 | 16.7 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media |
74.2 | 72.2 | 27.8 | 27.3 |
Office and administrative support |
72.4 | 81.3 | 10.4 | 9.3 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry |
71.8 | 35.4 | [1] | [1] |
Installation, maintenance, and repair |
69.7 | 20.5 | 11.8 | [1] |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance |
69.5 | 10.1 | 16.1 | [1] |
Construction and extraction |
59.0 | 11.2 | 14.2 | [1] |
Production |
42.4 | 16.1 | 6.2 | [1] |
Sales and related |
42.3 | 32.2 | 7.8 | 10.2 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical |
42.1 | 33.3 | 3.9 | 1.7 |
Educational instruction and library |
40.6 | 71.6 | 30.5 | 4.0 |
Personal care and service |
38.2 | 23.9 | 4.0 | [1] |
Healthcare support |
37.6 | 20.2 | [1] | 0.8 |
Transportation and material moving |
30.9 | 5.9 | 3.6 | [1] |
Food preparation and serving related |
21.1 | 1.3 | 0.5 | [1] |
Protective service |
13.7 | 9.9 | 4.8 | [1] |
[1] Data not publishable or there are no workers with the requirement. |
In 2021, the ability to pause work was available to 97.3 percent of workers in management occupations and 95.3 percent of workers in computer and mathematical occupations. The ability to telework was available to 29.6 percent of those who worked in management occupations and 47.6 percent of workers in computer and mathematical occupations.
The ability to pause work was available to 42.4 percent of production workers, and telework was not available to 99.8 percent of these workers. The ability to pause work was available to 69.5 percent of building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers. None of these workers were able to telework.
These data are from the Occupational Requirements Survey. Only permanent, and not temporary or ad hoc telework arrangements, such as those made in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, are included in telework estimates. For more information, see “Occupational Requirements in the United States — 2021.”
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Flexibility to pause work with unscheduled breaks available to 55.6 percent of workers in 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/flexibility-to-pause-work-with-unscheduled-breaks-available-to-55-6-percent-of-workers-in-2021.htm (visited February 14, 2025).