Wrist-Finger Speed
Ability · O*NET work requirement
The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
In the O*NET occupational database, Wrist-Finger Speed 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 10 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 Wrist-Finger Speed
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).
How AI is used by roles that need Wrist-Finger Speed
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). 30.0% of the 10 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (3 roles).
Across those roles, 32.3% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 60.9% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 2.75 / 5.
| Collaboration pattern | Share | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| directive | 54.5% | AI does it; you give the instruction |
| task iteration | 24.5% | you and AI go back and forth |
| validation | 6.9% | you do it; AI checks your work |
| feedback loop | 6.4% | AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback |
| learning | 0.9% | you ask AI to explain or teach |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Word Processors and Typists | 3.1 | 38.4% | 3.0/5 |
| Data Entry Keyers | 3.1 | 26.2% | 2.5/5 |
| Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians | 3.0 | — | — |
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 Wrist-Finger Speed matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Wrist-Finger Speed (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 0.2% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Wrist-Finger Speed (measured across 49 industries).
Sectors with the most such workers
| Sector | Workers | Employment reach |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 104,350 | 0.8% |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 75,530 | 0.3% |
| Wholesale Trade | 38,710 | 0.6% |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | 32,270 | 0.4% |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 26,170 | 0.2% |
| Educational Services | 21,570 | 0.2% |
| Retail Trade | 12,320 | 0.1% |
| Finance and Insurance | 9,410 | 0.2% |
| Information | 6,890 | 0.2% |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 6,330 | 0.1% |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 5,800 | 0.2% |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 5,320 | 0.1% |
Industries where it is most concentrated
| Industry | Level | Concentration | Employment reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farm and Garden Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers | National industry | 107× | 21.4% |
| Machine Shops | National industry | 12.5× | 2.5% |
| Manufacturing | Sector | 4× | 0.8% |
| Wholesale Trade | Sector | 3× | 0.6% |
| Temporary Help Services | National industry | 2.5× | 0.5% |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | Sector | 2× | 0.4% |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | Sector | 1.5× | 0.3% |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | Sector | 1× | 0.2% |
| Educational Services | Sector | 1× | 0.2% |
| Finance and Insurance | Sector | 1× | 0.2% |
| Information | Sector | 1× | 0.2% |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | Sector | 1× | 0.2% |
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.
Related abilities, skills & knowledge
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Speed of Limb Movement | Ability | 1 |
| Reaction Time | Ability | 6 |
| Rate Control | Ability | 4 |
| Auditory Attention | Ability | 5 |
| Hearing Sensitivity | Ability | 3 |
| Response Orientation | Ability | 2 |
| Visual Color Discrimination | Ability | 6 |
| Depth Perception | Ability | 3 |
| Memorization | Ability | 2 |
| Static Strength | Ability | 5 |
| Finger Dexterity | Ability | 10 |
| Spatial Orientation | Ability | 1 |
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.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Census NAICS 2022 U.S. Census Bureau
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Singulariki. "Wrist-Finger Speed." 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/wrist-finger-speed
Singulariki. (2026). Wrist-Finger Speed. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/abilities/wrist-finger-speed
@misc{singulariki-wrist-finger-speed,
title = {Wrist-Finger Speed},
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/wrist-finger-speed}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.