Other Sources of Vocational Data

• Author: David Traver
• Pages: 452-504

15-1

Chapter Fifteen

Other Sources of Vocational Data

§1500 Introduction to Other Sources of Vocational Data

§1501 What Are the “Companion Volumes” to the DOT?

§1501.1 The Revised Handbook for Analyzing Jobs (1991)

§1501.2 Practice Tip: The SSA May Not Take Administrative Notice of VE Testimony From Other Hear-

ings

§1502 History of the Selected Characteristics of the DOT (SCO)

§1502.1 Case on Point: O*NET (Document Preparer and Surveillance-System Monitor)

§1503 O*NET and Social Security Administration

§1503.1 Challenging the VE’s Knowledge of the Current World of Work (See Chapter 19)

§1504 County Business Patterns Do Not Provide Occupational Data

§1505 Census Reports

§1505.1 Census Reports Do Not Contain DOT-Related Vocational Information

§1505.2 Census Occupational Data Limitations

§1505.3 Sample Cross-Examination of a VE — Census Data

§1506 Occupational Outlook Handbook, Published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

§1506.1 Practice Tip: Surveillance-System Monitors in Transportation Terminals Have Been

Replaced by Transportation Security Officers (TSO) From the TSA

§1507 Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)

§1507.1 The Limitations of the “Crosswalk”

§1507.2 The BLS Data Include Unknown Quantities of Part-Time Jobs

§1507.3 Shortcomings of the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)

§1508 Various States’ Occupational Data Collection Methods

§1509 Example: Wisconsin Projections 2008-2018

§1509.1 Shortcomings of Wisconsin Projections 2008-2018

§1510 Non-Governmental Sources

§1510.1 Computer Systems That Allow for Easy Access to the DOT Data Set From the Revised Fourth Edi-

tion to the DOT — Are They Reliable?

§1510.2 Occupational Employment Quarterly

15-451 Other Sources of Vocational Data

§1510.2.1 Data Limitation

§1510.2.2 Shortcomings

§1510.2.3 Sample Vocational Report Regarding U.S. Publishing Data

§1510.2.4 Sample Cross-Examination of VE Regarding U.S. Publishing Data

§1510.3 “Revised” or “Updated” Versions of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles

§1510.3.1 Example of a “Revised” or “Updated” Version of the Dictionary of Occupational

Titles — Economic Research Institute’s eDOT

§1510.3.2 Problems With the PAQ/ERI Data

§1510.3.3 Summary — Weaknesses of the eDOT

§1510.4 SkillTRAN

§1511 Tracking an Attack on VE Testimony From Pre-Hearing Memo to the Final Decision in a District Court

Case

§1511.1 Setting the Stage — Send the Duces Tecum Letter

§1511.2 VE Testimony

§1511.3 Post-Hearing Memorandum to ALJ

§1511.4 Letter to Appeals Council

§1511.5 Section From the District Court Brief

§1511.6 Reply Brief in District Court

§1511.7 District Court Decision

§1511.8 Conclusion: Tracking an Attack on VE Testimony From Pre-Hearing Memo to the Final Decision in

a District Court Case

§1512 Action Ideas for Attacking VE Testimony on Any Data

§1512.1 Any Data Source — Sample Letter Attacking VE Testimony (See Chapter 19)

§1500 Social Security Disability Advocate’s Handbook 15-452

§1500 Introduction to Other Sources

of Vocational Data

There is no published source of data that could

reliably be used to answer the typical hypothetical

question at a Social Security disability hearing. This

chapter looks at the various sources of data used by

vocational experts who assert that their testimony has

legs to stand on.

How reliable are the statistical sources that purport

to identify the numbers of jobs in the labor market for

specific occupations? It depends. For the well-defined

occupations such as lawyer, police officer, plumber,

electrician, the statistics are fairly reliable in reporting

gross numbers. But as jobs become less skilled and less

homogeneous, the various statistical sources are less

reliable because of the way the data are collected. Some

statistical sources “push” the raw data in ways that are

not tenable.

As the ALJ’s hypothetical quotations about the

claimant’s alleged RFC become more fantastic, the

vocational link to reality evaporates. It becomes

the advocate’s job to show that the line has been

crossed, not what the right answer might be. None

of the sources used by the Commissioner can answer

the extreme hypothetical questions which have long

been routine.

This chapter explores how to look at that data

and testimony, and how to show the ALJ and the

reviewing court that it was not as advertised.

§1501 What Are the “Companion

Volumes” to the DOT?

Because the DOT does not contain enough

information to be useful to the Social Security

Administration’s adjudication system, the Commis-

sioner uses additional data. The Commissioner does

not explain why this information should be deemed

“reliable” when applied to adjudication purposes

which were never intended by the authors of the

data. Note: Reliability and validity of Dictionary of

Occupational Titles data are discussed in detail in

Chapter 14.

(d) Administrative notice of job data. When

we determine that unskilled, sedentary,

light, and medium jobs exist in the na-

tional economy (in significant numbers

either in the region where you live or in

several regions of the country), we will

take administrative notice of reliable job

information available from various gov-

ernmental and other publications. For

example, we will take notice of:

(1) Dictionary of Occupational Titles,

published by the Department of

Labor;

(2) County Business Patterns, published

by the Bureau of the Census;

(3) Census Reports, also published by

the Bureau of the Census;

(4) Occupational Analyses, prepared

for the Social Security Administra-

tion by various State employment

agencies; and

(5) Occupational Outlook Handbook,

published by the Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

20 C.F.R. § 404.1566 (d) (2013) www.ssa.gov/OP_

Home/cfr20/404/404-1566.htm.

§1501.1 The Revised Handbook for

Analyzing Jobs (199 1)

Another important “companion volume” that

is not listed as an example in the aforementioned

Regulation is the Department of Labor’s The Re-

vised Handbook for Analyzing Jobs (1991). This is

the Revised Handbook that was used by the Depart-

ment of Labor staff who compiled the DOT. It was

commonly used at the time by vocational counselors,

vocational evaluators, and others who performed vo-

cational evaluations using the DOT framework. For

an example of how to use the Revised Handbook,

see §1615.2.

§1501.2 Practice Tip:

The SSA May Not Take Administrative

Notice of VE Testimony From Other

Hearings

Can an ALJ take notice of testimony of

a VE given in one hearing and use that testi-

mony at another hearing? No, because such