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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. Gross and fine manipulation estimates are physical demand requirements. Where possible, the ORS program provides whether one or both hands are necessary to perform gross and fine manipulation as well as the duration associated with each job requirement by occupation.
Gross manipulation is defined as seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or otherwise working with hand(s). This includes instances when fingers are used as an extension of the hand to hold or operate a tool.
Examples of gross manipulation include:
Fine manipulation is defined as picking, pinching, touching or otherwise working primarily with fingers rather than the whole hand or arm. The ORS program considers the job requirement of entering data on traditional keyboards or 10-key pads as a keyboarding requirement, as this is excluded from fine manipulation.
Examples of fine manipulation include:
There are many situations where multiple physical demands are performed concurrently, including both gross and fine manipulation. The ORS program captures these requirements separately. Some examples of both requirements being present include:
In 2020, gross manipulation was required for 99.9 percent of all civilian workers and fine manipulation was required for 98.5 percent of civilian workers. (See Chart A.)
Fine manipulation | Gross manipulation | |
---|---|---|
All workers |
98.5% | 99.9% |
Dishwashers |
84.8% | 100.0% |
Construction laborers |
91.4% | 100.0% |
Customer service representatives |
97.3% | 97.3% |
Sales managers |
99.6% | 100.0% |
Software developers |
99.7% | 100.0% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey |
Included in the gross and fine manipulation requirements is whether the job requires workers to perform these physical demands using one hand or both hands. Generally, the sum of performing gross and fine manipulation with one hand and both hands will equal the overall requirement. For example, 100.0 percent of maids and housekeeping cleaners required gross manipulation and all of these workers required both hands to perform gross manipulation. Fine manipulation was required for 95.3 percent of maids and housekeeping cleaners with 20.1 percent requiring one hand and 75.2 percent requiring both hands. Sometimes the total does not equal the overall requirement due to rounding or because one or both estimates are not available, which occurs if they do not meet publication criteria or there are no workers with the requirement. (See Table 1.)
Occupation | Gross manipulation | Fine manipulation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Required | One hand | Both hands | Required | One hand | Both hands | |
Software developers |
100.0 | 36.2 | 63.8 | 99.7 | 53.3 | 46.4 |
Chief executives |
100.0 | 31.1 | 68.9 | 99.5 | 59.0 | 40.5 |
Computer and information systems managers |
99.6 | 20.6 | 79.0 | 100.0 | 68.0 | 32.0 |
Elementary school teachers, except special education |
100.0 | 13.0 | 87.0 | 100.0 | 45.9 | 54.1 |
Food preparation workers |
100.0 | - | 100.0 | 99.6 | 8.4 | 91.1 |
Cashiers |
100.0 | - | 99.4 | 100.0 | 17.3 | 82.7 |
Security guards |
100.0 | 10.9 | 89.1 | 99.8 | 31.3 | 68.5 |
Maids and housekeeping cleaners |
100.0 | - | 100.0 | 95.3 | 20.1 | 75.2 |
Note: Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey |
Duration estimates
Gross and fine manipulation duration estimates are categorized by portion of the workday spent performing these physical demands. For example, if over the course of an 8 hour workday (480 minutes) workers lift boxes for less than 5 minutes, gross manipulation would be classified as “seldom,” assuming no other gross manipulation is performed. However, if they lifted boxes for 1 hour each work day, then gross manipulation occurs “occasionally.” (See Table 2.)
Generally the sum of the duration estimates sums to the overall requirement (gross and fine manipulation). Additionally, the sum of the duration estimates and the not present estimate generally sum to 100 percent.
Duration | Amount of work day |
---|---|
Seldom |
Up to 2 percent of the workday |
Occasionally |
2 percent up to 1/3 of the workday |
Frequently |
1/3 up to 2/3 of the workday |
Constantly |
2/3 or more of the workday |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey |
The duration of gross and fine manipulation varies amongst occupations. For example, 8.8 percent of office clerks seldom performed gross manipulation, 50.7 percent of food service managers did occasionally, 64.9 percent of dental assistants did frequently, and 39.6 percent of maids and housekeeping cleaners did constantly. (See Chart B.)
Seldom | Occasionally | Frequently | Constantly | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Office clerks, general |
8.8% | 78.6% | 12.3% | - |
Food service managers |
- | 50.7% | 38.2% | - |
Dental assistants |
- | 22.1% | 64.9% | - |
Maids and housekeeping cleaners |
- | 14.4% | 46.0% | 39.6% |
Note: Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey |
Fine manipulation was performed seldom by 27.0 percent of office clerks, occasionally by 58.6 percent of food service managers and frequently by 38.2 percent of dental assistants. (See Chart C.)
Seldom | Occasionally | Frequently | |
---|---|---|---|
Office clerks, general |
27.0% | 70.4% | 2.3% |
Food service managers |
17.6% | 58.6% | 21.4% |
Dental assistants |
- | 61.8% | 38.2% |
Maids and housekeeping cleaners |
14.2% | 67.7% | 13.3% |
Note: Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria. 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.