2021 Occupational Requirements in the United States — 2021-11-18

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 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The choice of sitting or standing was available to 43.2 percent of civilian workers. Significant 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. 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. The ability to pause work was available to 95.3 percent of workers in computer and mathematical occupations, and 47.6 percent of these workers were able to telework. (See table 1.) The ability to pause work was available to 97.3 percent of workers in management occupations, and 29.6 percent of these workers were able to telework.