determination of the length of time it should take to complete a job. Job times are vital inputs for manpower planning, estimating labor costs, scheduling, budgeting, and designing incentive systems. In addition, from the workers' standpoint, time standards provide an indication of expected output. Time standards used under STANDARD COST SYSTEMS reflect the amount of time it should take an average worker to do a job under typical operating conditions. The standards include expected activity time plus allowances for probable delays. The most commonly used methods of work measurement are: (1) stopwatch time study; (2) historical times; (3) predetermined data; and (4) work sampling.