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Reaction Time

Ability · O*NET work requirement

The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.

In the O*NET occupational database, Reaction Time 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 144 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 Reaction Time

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
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.3 5.0
Fallers 4.1 4.3
Commercial Pilots 4.0 4.1
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 3.9 3.9
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 3.9 4.1
Locomotive Engineers 3.9 4.4
Logging Equipment Operators 3.9 4.1
Manufactured Building and Mobile Home Installers 3.9 4.0
Pile Driver Operators 3.9 4.0
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.9 3.9
Subway and Streetcar Operators 3.9 4.4
Tree Trimmers and Pruners 3.9 4.0
Continuous Mining Machine Operators 3.8 4.0
Crane and Tower Operators 3.8 3.9
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 3.8 4.0
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.8 3.8
Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers 3.8 3.5
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers 3.8 4.0
Helpers--Extraction Workers 3.8 3.9
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.8 3.9
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers 3.8 3.9
Roof Bolters, Mining 3.8 3.9
Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters 3.6 4.0
Hoist and Winch Operators 3.6 3.5
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity 3.6 3.8
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.6 3.5
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.6 3.8
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.6 3.8
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders 3.6 3.3
Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators 3.6 3.6
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders 3.6 3.8
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing 3.6 3.9
Bus Drivers, School 3.5 3.5
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators 3.5 3.5
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.5 3.6
Firefighters 3.5 4.0
Patternmakers, Wood 3.5 3.8
Rail Car Repairers 3.5 3.8
Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers 3.5 3.8
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas 3.5 3.3

Showing the top 40 of 144 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Reaction Time

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). 22.9% of the 144 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (33 roles).

Across those roles, 24.9% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 41.7% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.27 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 34.8% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 16.1% you ask AI to explain or teach
task iteration 8.6% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 6.9% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 0.3% 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
Patternmakers, Wood 3.5 30.1% 2.5/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.8 22.8% 4.0/5
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.1 27.2% 4.0/5
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 3.0 27.2% 4.0/5
Robotics Technicians 3.0 42.3% 3.0/5
Subway and Streetcar Operators 3.9 51.9% 3.0/5
Electro-Mechanical Technicians 3.0 25.7% 4.0/5
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders 3.0 23.7% 3.0/5
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.1 18.6% 3.0/5
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers 3.0 58.2% 4.0/5
Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers 3.1 32.2% 4.0/5

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 Reaction Time matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Reaction Time (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 10.0% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Reaction Time (measured across 63 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Transportation and Warehousing 3,934,390 53.2%
Manufacturing 3,550,950 27.8%
Construction 1,808,660 22.3%
Wholesale Trade 1,305,730 21.6%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 1,196,480 13.2%
Retail Trade 724,790 4.6%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 297,310 51.8%
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting 280,870 66.3%
Educational Services 261,390 1.9%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 229,290 5.2%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 166,020 7.0%
Health Care and Social Assistance 160,880 0.7%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting Sector 6.63× 66.3%
Transportation and Warehousing Sector 5.32× 53.2%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 5.18× 51.8%
Wind Electric Power Generation National industry 5.15× 51.5%
Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors National industry 5.08× 50.8%
Machine Shops National industry 4.75× 47.5%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 3.36× 33.6%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 3.13× 31.3%
Farm and Garden Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers National industry 3.11× 31.1%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 2.97× 29.7%
Manufacturing Sector 2.78× 27.8%
Temporary Help Services National industry 2.38× 23.8%

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
Rate Control Ability 90
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 126
Auditory Attention Ability 89
Multilimb Coordination Ability 129
Depth Perception Ability 75
Control Precision Ability 139
Operations Monitoring Cross-functional skill 128
Static Strength Ability 85
Manual Dexterity Ability 137
Trunk Strength Ability 101
Response Orientation Ability 53
Arm-Hand Steadiness Ability 141

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. "Reaction Time." 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/reaction-time

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Reaction Time. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/abilities/reaction-time

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-reaction-time,
  title  = {Reaction Time},
  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/reaction-time}
}

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