SVP is More than OTJ -- Education and Experience Count Too

The Department of Labor released Collection Manual 4.0 in August 2017.  Chapter 5 addresses the calculation of SVP.  Here is the general statement that incorporates SSA's requirements for the disability process:

SVP measures the minimum vocational preparation time needed for a job, not the type of knowledge required. Traditionally, SSA has used SVP as a proxy to quantify skill required by a job. SVP includes only vocationally relevant preparation time. Therefore, SVP excludes time spent completing general education requirements, non-vocationally relevant credentials, general experience, and probationary periods where workers aren’t actively receiving on the job training. Exclude any establishment hiring requirements that do not relate to the job’s critical tasks

From this statement, we can rest assured that the ORS will provide SVP in the same manner as SSA wants -- which is how the DOT was/is organized.  The Collection Manual continues:

 SVP consists of four components:
• Minimum Education
• Credentials
• Experience
• On the Job Training

High school is considered general education and therefore does not count for establishing SVP.  Credentials do count if they fall in the list:

• Certifications
• Licenses
• Educational Certificates
• Apprenticeships
• Vocational training
• Non-credit courses
• Credit courses that do not result in a degree 

Experience required for the job counts for SVP and includes:

•  Skills acquired or used in a similar job
• Progressively responsible levels of work
• Broad, yet related, vocational capabilities

And on-the-job training both counts and is broader than show and do:

• Time workers take to learn basic job tasks while being actively taught by a supervisor or a more experienced worker
• On the job training with verbal and written instruction, demonstration and observation, hands-on practice, or imitation
• Vocationally relevant classes or training needed to do the job, including in-plant or internal company training
• Time spent shadowing 

These reference points allow us to establish that an occupation is not unskilled with data available from the O*NET Resource Center and the ORS when the SVP is not specifically stated but the criteria for SVP are provided.  Occu Collect will post the education, training, and experience data next week.