Monday, December 31, 2018

Breaking Down Office Clerks, General -- How Many Sedentary and Light Jobs are There?

After we knock out the vast majority of production, inspection, and packing jobs, vocational experts increasingly turn to clerical jobs as examples of unskilled light and sedentary work that an impaired person can do.  We start the process of counting jobs with the course of administrative notice, the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

43-9061 Office clerks, general

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
3,117,700

We start with the observation that these jobs typically require a high school education or equivalent and are typically unskilled.  Couple those two observations with 3.1 million jobs and this looks like a huge source of jobs for a vocational expert to cite and an ALJ to find.  We turn to the Occupational Requirements Survey to assess the nature of the work by specifics rather than typicality.  

43-9061.00 (office clerks, general)

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000064
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: % of office clerks, general; svp is short demonstration only
Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: svp is short demonstration only
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual5.8

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000065
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: % of office clerks, general; svp is beyond short demonstration, up to & including 1 month
Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: svp is beyond short demonstration, up to & including 1 month
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual29.5

These two data points reinforce the notion that typical does not mean most.  It can mean most but can also mean the median or in this case the plurality.  The largest chunk of general office clerks is 29.5% and that represents a plurality of the jobs.  If we are looking for sedentary or light unskilled work, we just knocked 65% of the jobs out of contention.  Of the 74 DOT codes that inhabit general office clerks, 11 are unskilled.  

DOTCode
DOTTitle
SVP
STRENGTH
205.367-030
ELECTION CLERK
2
S
209.367-026
FINGERPRINT CLERK I
2
L
209.667-014
ORDER CALLER
2
L
222.587-038
ROUTER
2
L
222.687-034
STUBBER
2
M
229.587-010
GREIGE-GOODS MARKER
2
L
245.367-014
BLOOD-DONOR-UNIT ASSISTANT
2
L
249.587-010
BOARD ATTENDANT
2
L
249.587-014
CUTTER-AND-PASTER, PRESS CLIPPINGS
2
S
249.587-018
DOCUMENT PREPARER, MICROFILMING
2
S
294.667-010
AUCTION ASSISTANT
2
L

We now turn to painting the exertion landscape, again with the ORS.

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000661
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: % of office clerks, general; strength is sedentary
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: strength is sedentary
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual32.8

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000662
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: % of office clerks, general; strength is light work
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: strength is light work
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual41

This puts a curious spin on the DOT and its list of non-sedentary/light work in the occupational group of 74 DOT codes, just two:

DOT Code
DOT Title
SVP
STRENGTH
222.687-034
STUBBER
2
M
962.167-018
PROPERTY COORDINATOR
7
V

So far, we still have a substantial number of jobs:

43-9061.00 (office clerks, general)
# of Jobs
% Unskilled
# Unskilled
3,117,700
35.3%
1,100,548
# Unskilled
% Light Unskilled
# Light Unskilled
1,100,548
41%
451,224
# Unskilled
% Sedentary Unskilled
# Sedentary Unskilled
1,100,548
32.8%
360,980

Looking to physical requirements within the occupational group narrows the scope, back to the ORS.

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000130
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: office clerks, general; hours of standing/walking (90th percentile)
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: hours of standing/walking (90th percentile)
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual3.6

General office clerks do not engage in prolonged standing/walking.

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000139
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: % of office clerks, general; sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual79.9

Most general office clerks have a sit-stand option.  

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000998
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: office clerks, general; % of day sitting is required (10th percentile)
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: % of day sitting is required (10th percentile)
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual50

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000999
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: office clerks, general; % of day sitting is required (25th percentile)
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: % of day sitting is required (25th percentile)
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual75

Series ID: ORUP1000075800001000
Not seasonally adjusted
Series Title: office clerks, general; % of day sitting is required (50th percentile - median)
Requirement: Physical Demands
Occupation: office clerks, general
Estimate: % of day sitting is required (50th percentile - median)
YearPeriodEstimate
2017Annual85

General office clerks do engage in prolonged sitting throughout the day.  The cut-off for six hours of sitting in a day is at the 25th percentile.  If a claimant has the typical state agency finding of about six hours of sitting and six hours of standing/walking in an eight-hour day, the occupational base just got a lot smaller.  

# Unskilled
% Light Unskilled
# Light Unskilled
1,100,548
41%
451,224
# Light Unskilled
% ≤ 6 hours sitting
# ≤ 6 hours sitting, light
451,224
25%
112,806
# Unskilled
% Sedentary Unskilled
# Sedentary Unskilled
1,100,548
32.8%
360,980
# Sedentary Unskilled
% ≤ 6 hours sitting
# ≤ 6 hours sitting, sedentary
360,980
25%
 90,245

Those are the starting points for any analysis.  The economy employs 451,000 light and 361,000 sedentary office clerks, general.  Whether and how these job numbers change for less than or equal to six hours of sitting in a day are illustrated here.  Other limitations for complexity, contact with regular and other contacts, and manipulative limitations constitute valid next steps.  


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