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Empathy

Work style · O*NET

Empathy is one of O*NET's work styles — the personality tendencies people bring to a job that affect how well the work is done , grouped under Interpersonally Oriented. O*NET describes it as: "A tendency to show concern for others and be sensitive to others' needs and feelings at work." It is rated for 891 occupations and ranks low among work styles by how much it matters on average.

How it's measured

O*NET scores each occupation on this work style with a Work Styles Impact (WI) value — higher means the style matters more to doing the work well. The figures here are those occupation-level scores: a description of which jobs lean on this trait, not a judgment about pay, difficulty, or whether a job is "good," and not a claim about any individual worker.

Economy-wide average 0.80 Mean across all 891 rated occupations
Range across occupations -0.39–3.00 Lowest to highest occupation score (spread 3.39)
Impact vs. other styles 26th pct Where this style's average ranks among all O*NET work styles

Occupations where this style matters most

The occupations that score this work style strongest.

Occupation Impact
Art Therapists 3.00
Child, Family, and School Social Workers 3.00
Childcare Workers 3.00
Clergy 3.00
Clinical and Counseling Psychologists 3.00
Community Health Workers 3.00
Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors 3.00
Genetic Counselors 3.00
Healthcare Social Workers 3.00
Home Health Aides 3.00
Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists 3.00
Marriage and Family Therapists 3.00
Mental Health Counselors 3.00
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers 3.00
Midwives 3.00
Music Therapists 3.00
Nurse Midwives 3.00
Occupational Therapists 3.00
Occupational Therapy Assistants 3.00
Personal Care Aides 3.00
Psychiatric Aides 3.00
Psychiatric Technicians 3.00
Psychiatrists 3.00
Radiation Therapists 3.00
Recreational Therapists 3.00
Rehabilitation Counselors 3.00
Social and Human Service Assistants 3.00
Special Education Teachers, Elementary School 3.00
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten 3.00
Special Education Teachers, Middle School 3.00
Special Education Teachers, Preschool 3.00
Speech-Language Pathologists 3.00
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors 3.00
Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses 2.97
Nursing Assistants 2.97
School Psychologists 2.97
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School 2.97
Adapted Physical Education Specialists 2.93
Patient Representatives 2.90
Physical Therapists 2.82
Pediatricians, General 2.79
Directors, Religious Activities and Education 2.68
Funeral Attendants 2.64
Funeral Home Managers 2.64
Clinical Nurse Specialists 2.61
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education 2.61
Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers 2.61
Nurse Practitioners 2.61
Family Medicine Physicians 2.57
Physical Therapist Assistants 2.57
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education 2.57
Teaching Assistants, Special Education 2.57
Critical Care Nurses 2.54
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education 2.54
Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2.54
Occupational Therapy Aides 2.54
Speech-Language Pathology Assistants 2.54
Residential Advisors 2.50
Audiologists 2.47
Clinical Neuropsychologists 2.47

Occupations where this style matters least

The occupations that score this work style weakest — where it is least central to the work.

Occupation Impact
Fishing and Hunting Workers -0.39
Penetration Testers -0.38
Slaughterers and Meat Packers -0.38
Retail Loss Prevention Specialists -0.37
Non-Destructive Testing Specialists -0.36
Gambling Surveillance Officers and Gambling Investigators -0.33
Appraisers of Personal and Business Property -0.29
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.26
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.25
Parking Enforcement Workers -0.25
Fallers -0.23
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand -0.23
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.23
Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.23
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders -0.22
Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining -0.22
Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers -0.22
Rock Splitters, Quarry -0.22
Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders -0.22
Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing -0.22
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners -0.22
Boilermakers -0.21
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders -0.21
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders -0.21
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining -0.21
Foundry Mold and Coremakers -0.21
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products -0.21
Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters -0.20
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.20
Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators -0.20
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders -0.20
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders -0.20
Pourers and Casters, Metal -0.20
Timing Device Assemblers and Adjusters -0.20
Tool and Die Makers -0.20
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing -0.20
Calibration Technologists and Technicians -0.18
Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers -0.18
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.18
Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles -0.18
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.18
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers -0.18
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers -0.18
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic -0.18
Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation -0.18
Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers -0.18
Rail Car Repairers -0.18
Semiconductor Processing Technicians -0.18
Machine Feeders and Offbearers -0.17
Model Makers, Metal and Plastic -0.17
Motion Picture Projectionists -0.17
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators -0.17
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders -0.17
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders -0.17
Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic -0.17
Pile Driver Operators -0.17
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas -0.17
Stonemasons -0.17
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders -0.17
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers -0.17

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

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

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Empathy." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/work-styles/empathy

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Empathy. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/work-styles/empathy

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-empathy,
  title  = {Empathy},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/work-styles/empathy}
}

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