In a national probability sample of the adult working population in the United States, 1515 Americans participated in a structured interview. This survey provided data on individual job perceptions and occupational characteristics. Occupational information was coded using the skill codes employed by the Department of Labor'sDictionary of Occupational Titles:the Data, People, and Thing hierarchies originally developed by Fine (1968). Analysis of the data indicates that perceived job characteristics are correlated with the level of data‐oriented and people‐oriented skills used in the job. Further, task characteristics such as autonomy and variety correlate more highly with the skill codes than do role characteristics such as conflict and ambiguity. Results also suggest that task characteristics are linearly related to data‐ and people‐oriented skills; but non‐linearly related to thing‐oriented skills. Based on these results, it is concluded that the type and level of skill used on the job contribute significantly to employee work