Every knowledge, skill, and ability in the O*NET database as a swatch: what it is, the jobs that rely on it, how many U.S. workers depend on it, and how rare it is across the occupation taxonomy.
| Key | Capability | Band | Share of measured workers | Measured workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| near-vision | Near VisionAbility | Universal | 100% | 135.9M workers |
| oral-comprehension | Oral ComprehensionAbility | Universal | 97% | 132.3M workers |
| active-listening | Active ListeningSkill | Universal | 93% | 126.9M workers |
| oral-expression | Oral ExpressionAbility | Universal | 93% | 126.8M workers |
| problem-sensitivity | Problem SensitivityAbility | Universal | 92% | 124.7M workers |
| speech-recognition | Speech RecognitionAbility | Universal | 90% | 122.9M workers |
| information-ordering | Information OrderingAbility | Universal | 90% | 122.7M workers |
| customer-and-personal-service | Customer and Personal ServiceKnowledge | Common | 89% | 121.5M workers |
| speaking | SpeakingSkill | Universal | 89% | 121.5M workers |
| english-language | English LanguageKnowledge | Universal | 88% | 120.0M workers |
Ranked by population prevalence — the share of the measured U.S. workforce (BLS OEWS national employment in occupations that joined) whose O*NET importance ratings rely on each capability. A 100% here is 100% of that covered denominator, not of every U.S. worker: occupations outside the join and suppressed SOCs are unknown, not zero, and are not deleted from the story. A different denominator from the rarity bands above (measured workers, not occupations) — the two can and do disagree. This is a level, not a movement: one edition today, so no change is claimed.
Every knowledge, skill, and ability carries a stable key, a definition, and the jobs that rely on it.
How many occupations rely on a capability is computed from real importance ratings — rare is what differentiates.
Capabilities connect jobs, guides, and books — what a job needs, a guide teaches, a book is about.
The capability is one axis of the frame — the job and the place are the others.
Source: O*NET 26.0 · Licensed CC BY 4.0 · Contains information from the O*NET Database (version 26.0) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license.
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