Marker -- Revisited and Dismantled

We addressed the occupation of markers last year through the lens of the Occupational Requirements Survey.  We examine the occupation today from the perspective of education.  To recap the DOT:

DOT Narrative: 209.587-034 MARKER (retail trade; wholesale tr.) alternate titles: marking clerk; merchandise marker; price marker; ticket maker Marks and attaches price tickets to articles of merchandise to record price and identifying information: Marks selling price by hand on boxes containing merchandise, or on price tickets. Ties, glues, sews, or staples price ticket to each article. Presses lever or plunger of mechanism that pins, pastes, ties, or staples ticket to article. ay record number and types of articles marked and pack them in boxes. May compare printed price tickets with entries on purchase order to verify accuracy and notify supervisor of discrepancies. ay print information on tickets, using ticket-printing machine [TICKETER (any industry); TICKET PRINTER AND TAGGER (garment)]. GOE: 05.09.03 STRENGTH: L GED: R2 M1 L1 SVP: 2 DLU: 77

The codes for reasoning and and data are important to this occupation. 

REASONING DEVELOPMENT: 2
Apply commonsense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in or from standardized situations.

Definitions of Worker Functions
Data: 5 - Significant
Copying: Transcribing, entering, or posting data.

 The aptitudes from the electronic files of the SCO provide insight into the educationally related innate abilities:

General Learning Ability: 4, Lower Degree of Aptitude Ability - Lowest Third Excluding Bottom 10%
GENERAL LEARNING ABILITY: The ability to "catch on" or understand instructions and underlying principles; the ability to reason and make judgments. Closely related to doing well in school.

Verbal Aptitude: 4, Lower Degree of Aptitude Ability - Lowest Third Excluding Bottom 10%
VERBAL APTITUDE: The ability to understand the meaning of words and to use them effectively. Ability to comprehend language, to understand relationships between words, and to understand the meanings of whole sentences and paragraphs.

Numerical Aptitude: 4, Lower Degree of Aptitude Ability - Lowest Third Excluding Bottom 10%
NUMERICAL APTITUDE: The ability to perform arithmetic operations quickly and accurately.
Interpretive Information for Analysts: Consider activities. such as making change from currency of one denomination to another. keeping time or production records. using math or geometry to layout geometric patterns. making accurate numerical measurements. and making or checking numerical entries. Consider the complexity of numerical operations as well as speed required and volume of arithmetic activity.

Spatial Aptitude: 4, Lower Degree of Aptitude Ability - Lowest Third Excluding Bottom 10%
SPATIAL APTITUDE: The ability to think visually of geometric forms and to comprehend the two-dimensional representation of three-dimensional objects. The ability to recognize the relationships resulting from the movement of objects in space.
Interpretive Information for Analysts: Frequently described as the ability to "visualize" objects of two- or three-dimensions or to think visually of geometric forms. Work examples are such activities as laying out. positioning, and aligning objects; observing movements of objects. such as vehicles in traffic or machines in operation. and comprehending how the movements affect their spatial position concurrently; achieving balanced design; and understanding and anticipating the effects of physical stresses in structural situations.

Form Perception: 4, Lower Degree of Aptitude Ability - Lowest Third Excluding Bottom 10%
FORM PERCEPTION: The ability to perceive pertinent detail in objects or in pictorial or graphic material. Ability to make visual comparisons and discriminations and see slight differences in shapes and shadings of figures and widths and lengths of lines.
Interpretive Information for Analysts: Consider such activities as inspecting surfaces for consistency in coloring, Scratches, flaws, grain, texture, and the like; observing lint, dust, etc., on surfaces; determining if patterns are correct or match; and recognizing small parts.
NOTE: Spatial deals with visualization of the shape of objects as well as comprehension of forms in space. Form perception, on the other hand. pertains to the perception of surface details.

Clerical Perception: 3, Medium Degree of Aptitude Ability - Middle Third
CLERICAL PERCEPTION: The ability 10 perceive pertinent detail in verbal or tabular material. Ability to observe differences in copy, 10 proofread words and numbers, and to avoid perceptual errors in arithmetic computation. A measure of speed of perception is required in many industrial jobs even when the job does not have verbal or numerical content.
Interpretive Information for Analysts: In trade and craft jobs consider the work orders, specifications, dials, gauges, and measuring devices which must be read. Consider whether perceptual errors in reading words and numbers or in rapidly comparing similar forms or shapes would result in defective work.

The person performing the work of a marker needs average clerical perception for the significant worker functions of transcribing, entering, or posting data in the performance of detailed but uninvolved tasks with a few concrete variables from standardized situations. 

Markers belong to stock clerks and order fillers (SOC 43-5081) and more specifically to the O*NET detailed group of marking clerks (O*NET 43-5081.02).  The OOH does not address the detailed groups carved out by the O*NET, it addresses the SOC group: 

 43-5081 Stock clerks and order fillers

Typical Education Needed	High school diploma or equivalent
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
Typical On-The-Job Training Needed to Attain Competency	Short-term on-the-job training
2016 Employment	2,008,600

BLS reports:

Education Levels of Incumbents

43-5081 Stock clerks and order fillers

Typical Education Needed	High school diploma or equivalent
Less than a High School Education	13.4
High School Education or Equivalent	42.7
Some College, No Degree	25.6
Associates Degree	7.5
Bachelor's Degree	9.1
Masters's Degree	1.4
Doctoral or Professional Degree	0.3

The O*NET OnLine describes worker functions and requirements:

Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Contact With Others — How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?	60	Constant contact with others
	38	Contact with others most of the time
	0	Contact with others about half the time
	1	Occasional contact with others
	0	No contact with others
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Coordinate or Lead Others — How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job?	29	Extremely important
	23	Very important
	21	Important
	19	Fairly important
	9	Not important at all
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Deal With External Customers — How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?	39	Extremely important
	23	Very important
	11	Important
	20	Fairly important
	8	Not important at all
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Deal With Physically Aggressive People — How frequently does this job require the worker to deal with physical aggression of violent individuals?	0	Every day
	0	Once a week or more but not every day
	3	Once a month or more but not every week
	30	Once a year or more but not every month
	68	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People — How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?	1	Every day
	56	Once a week or more but not every day
	15	Once a month or more but not every week
	27	Once a year or more but not every month
	1	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Electronic Mail — How often do you use electronic mail in this job?	7	Every day
	29	Once a week or more but not every day
	0	Once a month or more but not every week
	0	Once a year or more but not every month
	64	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Face-to-Face Discussions — How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?	90	Every day
	8	Once a week or more but not every day
	0	Once a month or more but not every week
	1	Once a year or more but not every month
	1	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Frequency of Conflict Situations — How often are there conflict situations the employee has to face in this job?	29	Every day
	9	Once a week or more but not every day
	34	Once a month or more but not every week
	27	Once a year or more but not every month
	1	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Letters and Memos — How often does the job require written letters and memos?	25	Every day
	41	Once a week or more but not every day
	2	Once a month or more but not every week
	0	Once a year or more but not every month
	33	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Public Speaking — How often do you have to perform public speaking in this job?	18	Every day
	0	Once a week or more but not every day
	19	Once a month or more but not every week
	16	Once a year or more but not every month
	48	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Responsibility for Outcomes and Results — How responsible is the worker for work outcomes and results of other workers?	12	Very high responsibility
	20	High responsibility
	4	Moderate responsibility
	54	Limited responsibility
	10	No responsibility
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Responsible for Others' Health and Safety — How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job?	15	Very high responsibility
	11	High responsibility
	25	Moderate responsibility
	21	Limited responsibility
	27	No responsibility
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Telephone — How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?	51	Every day
	5	Once a week or more but not every day
	0	Once a month or more but not every week
	0	Once a year or more but not every month
	44	Never
Interpersonal Relationships	%	Response
Work With Work Group or Team — How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job?	27	Extremely important
	63	Very important
	8	Important
	0	Fairly important
	1	Not important at all

Structural Job Characteristics	%	Response
Consequence of Error — How serious would the result usually be if the worker made a mistake that was not readily correctable?	0	Extremely serious
	10	Very serious
	28	Serious
	18	Fairly serious
	45	Not serious at all
Structural Job Characteristics	%	Response
Degree of Automation — How automated is the job?	0	Completely automated
	0	Highly automated
	33	Moderately automated
	1	Slightly automated
	65	Not at all automated
Structural Job Characteristics	%	Response
Duration of Typical Work Week — Number of hours typically worked in one week.	19	More than 40 hours
	46	40 hours
	35	Less than 40 hours
Structural Job Characteristics	%	Response
Freedom to Make Decisions — How much decision-making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?	47	A lot of freedom
	31	Some freedom
	21	Limited freedom
	0	Very little freedom
	1	No freedom
Structural Job Characteristics	%	Response
Frequency of Decision Making — How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?	20	Every day
	21	Once a week or more but not every day
	36	Once a month or more but not every week
	0	Once a year or more but not every month
	23	Never
Environmental	%	Response
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer?	16	Very important results
	38	Important results
	1	Moderate results
	45	Minor results
	0	No results
Environmental	%	Response
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job?	38	Very important results
	21	Important results
	41	Moderate results
	0	Minor results
	0	No results

The incidence of work as a marker with a limited education and language skills is at least highly suspect.  Markers need the ability to engage in reasoning level 2; have the significant worker functions of copying, transcribing, and posting data; possess a high school education or more in 86% of jobs; work with a group or team in 99% of jobs; engage in public speaking in 52% of jobs; deal with external customers in 92% of jobs; coordinate with other workers in 91% of jobs; and have more than occasional contact with others in 99% of jobs.  Of jobs in the group of marking clears, 65% of jobs are full-time  35% are part-time.