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Extent Flexibility

Ability · O*NET work requirement

The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.

In the O*NET occupational database, Extent Flexibility is an ability that work requires. O*NET rates how important it is (1–5) and what level of it a job needs (0–7) for every U.S. occupation. It is rated as important (3 or higher) in 153 of 894 occupations.

Breadth here means how widely O*NET rates this ability as important across occupations — not that it is rare, high-paying, or currently in employer demand.

Occupations that rely most on Extent Flexibility

Ranked by O*NET importance to the occupation (1–5). Bars are sized against the 1–5 scale; the level column is what depth of the ability the job needs (0–7).

Occupation Importance Score Level
Dancers 4.5 4.9
Brickmasons and Blockmasons 3.9 3.9
Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors 3.9 4.0
Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall 3.9 4.1
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 3.9 4.3
Roof Bolters, Mining 3.9 4.0
Choreographers 3.8 3.9
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse 3.8 3.8
Millwrights 3.8 3.9
Roofers 3.8 3.8
Structural Iron and Steel Workers 3.8 3.9
Tree Trimmers and Pruners 3.8 4.0
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 3.6 4.1
Manufactured Building and Mobile Home Installers 3.6 3.9
Carpet Installers 3.6 3.9
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers 3.6 3.9
Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles 3.6 3.8
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 3.6 4.4
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists 3.5 3.9
Commercial Divers 3.5 4.0
Electricians 3.5 3.8
Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles 3.5 3.5
Plasterers and Stucco Masons 3.5 3.6
Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons 3.5 3.4
Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers 3.5 3.6
Tile and Stone Setters 3.5 3.8
Athletes and Sports Competitors 3.4 3.8
Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 3.4 4.0
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers 3.4 3.5
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers 3.4 3.8
Firefighters 3.4 3.8
Helpers--Electricians 3.4 3.6
Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons 3.4 3.8
Mechanical Door Repairers 3.4 3.8
Paperhangers 3.4 3.8
Solar Thermal Installers and Technicians 3.4 3.4
Stonemasons 3.4 3.5
Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers 3.4 3.8
Tire Repairers and Changers 3.4 3.6
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders 3.3 3.4

Showing the top 40 of 153 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Extent Flexibility

This ability is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the roles for which O*NET rates it important and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across those roles (importance-weighted). 37.9% of the 153 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (58 roles).

Across those roles, 33.1% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 30.3% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.54 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
learning 23.0% you ask AI to explain or teach
directive 22.2% AI does it; you give the instruction
task iteration 9.7% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 8.1% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 0.4% you do it; AI checks your work

Roles behind this signal

The roles where this ability is most important and that also have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.

Occupation Importance Works with AI Autonomy
Correctional Officers and Jailers 3.0 52.7% 3.0/5
Choreographers 3.8 54.5% 4.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.1 22.8% 4.0/5
Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers 3.0 54.2% 3.5/5
Adapted Physical Education Specialists 3.0 55.1% 3.0/5
Solar Photovoltaic Installers 3.1 47.2% 4.0/5
Chefs and Head Cooks 3.0 38.5% 4.0/5
Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers 3.1 23.4% 4.0/5
Massage Therapists 3.3 66.7% 4.0/5
Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors 3.9 77.0% 4.0/5
Electricians 3.5 34.3% 3.8/5
Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants 3.1 22.3% 3.0/5

Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. Shares are of observed conversations, weighted by how important this ability is to each role; some conversations are left unclassified by Anthropic's taxonomy, so shares need not sum to 100.

Industries that concentrate this

Where Extent Flexibility matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Extent Flexibility (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5). Concentration compares that reach to the national average industry, so a value above 1× means the requirement is more pervasive here than across the economy as a whole.

Nationally, about 15.2% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Extent Flexibility (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Construction 3,858,600 47.5%
Retail Trade 3,072,480 19.7%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 2,665,640 29.5%
Health Care and Social Assistance 2,022,870 8.8%
Manufacturing 1,788,210 14.0%
Accommodation and Food Services 1,753,470 12.3%
Transportation and Warehousing 1,531,530 20.7%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 1,100,070 24.9%
Wholesale Trade 940,650 15.6%
Educational Services 739,000 5.4%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 593,630 25.1%
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 537,980 20.4%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Painting and Wall Covering Contractors National industry 4.87× 74.0%
Landscaping Services National industry 4.7× 71.4%
Masonry Contractors National industry 4.68× 71.1%
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors National industry 4.26× 64.8%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 4.22× 64.1%
Exterminating and Pest Control Services National industry 4.09× 62.2%
Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors National industry 3.89× 59.2%
Roofing Contractors National industry 3.88× 59.0%
Drywall and Insulation Contractors National industry 3.81× 57.9%
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Sector 3.64× 55.3%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 3.62× 55.0%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 3.26× 49.6%

Reach is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across an industry's workforce, not how intensively any individual uses it. Sector worker counts come from BLS OEWS employment; the significance threshold and tool use come from O*NET. Industries shown by concentration are filtered to a real worker base so a tiny specialty cannot top the list on rounding.

Capabilities required by many of the same occupations — a measure of which skills, knowledge and abilities tend to travel together, not a judgment of similarity.

Capability Type Shared occupations
Trunk Strength Ability 137
Static Strength Ability 112
Multilimb Coordination Ability 139
Manual Dexterity Ability 146
Stamina Ability 60
Control Precision Ability 124
Arm-Hand Steadiness Ability 144
Gross Body Equilibrium Ability 52
Mechanical Knowledge 105
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 88
Finger Dexterity Ability 124
Repairing Cross-functional skill 57

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Extent Flexibility." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/abilities/extent-flexibility

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Extent Flexibility. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/abilities/extent-flexibility

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-extent-flexibility,
  title  = {Extent Flexibility},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/abilities/extent-flexibility}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.