ORS Reports for SVP 1 or 2, 35-40 Hours per Week by Minimum Education

BLS reports "SVP level 1 or 2 and 35-40 weekly hours by Minimum Education Requirement" in an excel spreadsheet. This same report is replicated by SOC code on OccuCollect.com. Today, we look at electrical and electronic equipment assemblers (SOC 51-2022). Line 358 of the ORS report:

SOC	Occupation	Illiterate		No Min		HS or less
512022	Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	<10	[15]	<10	[15]	26.3	10.1

The second number in each column is the standard error. If a user runs this report in OccuCollect, that person will get a null result. Why? Thanks for asking. The OOH and OEWS report combines SOC 51-2022 and 51-2023 to form electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers (SOC 51-2028). The OccuCollect report, sans the ORS header, reports:

51-2022 - Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

SVP level 1 or 2 and 35-40 weekly hours by Minimum Education Requirement

The OOH Dataset does not report a Job numbers for this SOC.

Minimum Education Required	Percentage	# of Jobs
Total Jobs (OOH 2023)	100%	Not Reported
No literacy	<10%	Not Reported
No Minimum	<10%	Not Reported
High School Diploma	26.3%	Not Reported

There are job numbers in the OEWS and OOH. Running the OEWS data on the report states:

51-2028 -

SVP level 1 or 2 and 35-40 weekly hours by Minimum Education Requirement

Minimum Education Required	Percentage	# of Jobs
Total Jobs (OEWS 2023)	100%	267,440
No literacy	Not Reported	Not Reported
No Minimum	Not Reported	Not Reported
High School Diploma	Not Reported	Not Reported

Users can put those two together. There are less than 10% of jobs (< 26,744) jobs that do not require a high school education, some of those may not require literacy.  The problem gets worse. The 2018 and 2023 ORS date report on education states:

Occupational Requirements – education	2018	2023	2024
no minimum education requirement	26.7	23.1
no minimum education required, and literacy is not required	--	<10
no minimum education required, and literacy is required	--	<35
minimum education level is a high school diploma	66.8	66.7
minimum education level is a high school vocational degree	-	-	--
minimum education level is an associate's degree	-	-
minimum education level is an associate's vocational degree	-	-	--
minimum education level is a bachelor's degree	-	<0.5
minimum education level is a master's degree	-	<0.5
minimum education level is a doctorate degree	-	<0.5
minimum education level is a professional degree	-	<0.5

The ORS reports two-thirds of jobs require a high school education or equivalent (see the Collections Manual for the definition of high school education) and 23.1 to 26.7% of jobs have no minimum education requirement. Of those jobs that do not have a minimum education requirement, less than 35% require literacy and les than 10% do not require literacy. Less than 35% plus less than 10% equal 23.1%. That's stats. 

This aggregation of 90+% of jobs includes all skill levels. The ORS reports for skill level SVP1 and 2:

Occupational Requirements – specific vocational preparation	2018	2023	2024
specific vocational preparation is short demonstration only	-	<0.5
specific vocational preparation is beyond short demonstration through 1 month	29.2	29.2

The difference between 29.2% of jobs as unskilled and the report of 26.3% of jobs as requiring a high school diploma or less is answered by two syllables, part-time. There are approximately 70,300 jobs in the national economy for a person limited to unskilled work. Less than 10% of those jobs exist for a person limited to simple work, less than 7,000 jobs at all exertional levels. 

The regulations define a high school education as having the "abilities in reasoning, arithmetic, and language skills acquired through formal schooling." 20 CFR 404.1564(b)(4). A limitation to simple work is in fact a limitation on the ability to access a high school education under subsection (b), "the numerical grade level that you completed in school may not represent your actual educational abilities."

Of those less than 7,000 jobs at all exertion levels, the ORS tells us that less than 3,000 are sedentary and less than 1,500 are light jobs:

Occupational Requirements – strength, exertion	2018	2023	2024
strength required is sedentary	-	34
strength required is light work	28.3	20.8

In today's economy, the number of sedentary and light jobs for a person with a limited education or a limitation to simple work is less than 4,500. Less than is the critical phrase. Because SSA defines full-time work as a 40-hour workweek or an equivalent schedule, the reliable number is even lower. 

Proper presentation of the number of jobs as rebuttal evidence requires chasing the rabbit all the way down the hole, ignoring the Cheshire Cat, evading the Queen of Hearts, and escaping the a-statistical methodology used by witnesses with a request that the agency adhere to its promise -- administrative notice. 20 CFR f404.1566(d).

Be not afraid. 

___________________________

Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, ORS Reports for SVP 1 or 2, 35-40 Hours per Week by Minimum Education, California Social Security Attorney (March 1, 2025)  https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2008.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers -- Post Biestek Analysis -- Part 3

In part 1 of this series, we looked at the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers (SOC 51-2022) (equipment assemblers) and in particular at the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Occupational Employment Quarterly, and Job Browser Pro. We Found that the occupational group of 61 DOT codes typically required a high school education, skills, and represented jobs across the exertion and skill range.

The Occupational Employment Quarterly (version 3.1 4th quarter 2018) suggested 3,054 sedentary unskilled jobs and 30,541 light unskilled jobs.  Job Browser Pro (version 1.67, 2017 job estimates) suggested 1,600 jobs sedentary unskilled jobs and about 78,000 jobs as light unskilled jobs.

In part 2 of this series, we calculated the number of SVP 2 jobs within equipment assemblers 63,919 jobs at all exertion levels.  We calculated the number of light unskilled jobs is 18,089.  In this final part of the series, we examine the existence of sedentary unskilled jobs as an equipment assembler.

We already estimated the number of unskilled jobs at 63,919.  Just under 30% are light.  The 2017 data set put the number of medium jobs at just under 80%.  There is a clear downward estimation of the number of jobs that require medium exertion -- 80% + 30% = 110%.  While the two data sets are not necessarily consistent, it does lead to the observation that the number of sedentary jobs is probably very small.  Since we have the reported percentage of light jobs, estimating the percentage of medium jobs will help complete the algebraic equation of S + L + M + H + V = 100%.

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000241

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; lifting/carrying > 20 lbs & <= 50 lbs is required, seldom

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: lifting/carrying > 20 lbs & <= 50 lbs is required, seldom

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	57

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000241

Seldom lifting/carrying more than 20 pounds make that job medium.  We can confidently conclude that the percentage of medium jobs is at least 57%.

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000234

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; pounds maximum weight lifted/carried (10th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: pounds maximum weight lifted/carried (10th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	8.18

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000234

This data point suggests that somewhere around the 10th percentile, the seldom lifting/carrying exceeds 10 pounds and the upper limit of sedentary exertion.

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000126

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; hours of standing/walking (10th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: hours of standing/walking (10th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	0.8

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000126

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000127

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; hours of standing/walking (25th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: hours of standing/walking (25th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	1.6

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000127

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000128

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; hours of standing/walking (50th percentile - median)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: hours of standing/walking (50th percentile - median)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	4.8

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000128

These three data points suggest that the standing/walking required is not exceeded until past the 25th percentile.  Sedentary work provides the proper classification based on lifting/carrying, pushing/pulling, or standing/walking.  Any one of the requirements of work will cause the classification to change to light exertion.

Putting these points together, we can start with 57% of the jobs require medium and 28.3% require light exertion.  That aggregates to 85.3% of the jobs.  The number of sedentary jobs cannot exceed 14.7% of jobs along with any heavy or very heavy jobs.  Using 14.7% of the jobs is roughly consistent with the 10th percentile for lifting/carrying and the 25th percentile for standing/walking.  We use the assumptions least favorable to the claimant, 14.7% of the jobs.  

We started this piece with the assumption of 63,919 unskilled jobs.  Applying the 14.7% maximum number of sedentary jobs -- along with the assumption that unskilled work occurs with equal frequency regardless of exertion as opposed to an assumption that skill and exertion have an inverse relationship -- yields an estimate of 9,396 unskilled sedentary jobs.  

The OccuCollect jobs calculator does not give this estimate.  When the ORS does not estimate job incidence within an occupation for an exertional level, OccuCollect reports no jobs.  Users should view that "0" as a "no estimate" rather than no jobs.

See When to Use Occu Collect.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers -- Post Biestek Analysis -- Part 2

In part 1 of this series, we looked at the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers (SOC 51-2022) (equipment assemblers) and in particular at the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Occupational Employment Quarterly, and Job Browser Pro. We Found that the occupational group of 61 DOT codes typically required a high school education, skills, and represented jobs across the exertion and skill range.

The Occupational Employment Quarterly (version 3.1 4th quarter 2018) suggested 3,054 sedentary unskilled jobs and 30,541 light unskilled jobs.  Job Browser Pro (version 1.67, 2017 job estimates) suggested 1,600 jobs sedentary unskilled jobs and about 78,000 jobs as light unskilled jobs.  The post-Biestek era question is whether those estimates are reliable.  OccuCollect provides the 2017 and 2018 data sets for evidence and comparison.  We start with skill level.

Series ID: ORUV1000091300000065

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; svp is beyond short demonstration, up to & including 1 month

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: svp is beyond short demonstration, up to & including 1 month

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	29.2

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000091300000065

Series ID: ORUV1000091300000069

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; svp is over 1 year, up to & including 2 years

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: svp is over 1 year, up to & including 2 years

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	22.6

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000091300000069

These data points describe 51.8% of the jobs within the group.  To assume that any of the jobs require a short demonstration (SVP 1) when none of the DOT codes describe an SVP 1 and the OOH describes the group as requiring moderate-term on-the-job training would lack a statistical basis to the data.  The best deduction from the data is that 29.2% of the jobs are unskilled and the rest are either semi-skilled or skilled.  Assuming the OOH/EP job number (218,900 jobs), the number that are unskilled is approximately 63,919 at all exertion levels (218,000 x 29.2%).

We can now turn to exertion.

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000662

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; strength is light work

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

Estimate: strength is light work

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	28.3

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000662

The 2018 data set does not describe any other "strength" level.  The 2017 data set described medium exertion:

Series ID: ORUP1000091300000663

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of electrical and electronic equipment assemblers; strength is medium work

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

Estimate: strength is medium work

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	78.9

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000091300000663

Our quest remains to determine the number of light unskilled jobs.  Assuming our calculation of approximately 63,919 unskilled jobs at all exertion levels, number of light unskilled jobs is 18,089.  That's the starting point.  If the claimant has any further manipulative, standing/walking, sit-stand option, or cognitive/social limitations, that number gets eroded.  A claimant under 55 that can perform the full range of light work is not disabled with a limited education and the ability to communicate in English.

The OccuCollect jobs calculator provides the conclusion.See When to Use Occu Collect.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers -- Post Biestek Analysis -- Part 1

We are in the post-Biestek era.  The record must show conflict.  That poses the obligation on the ALJ to resolve that conflict.  Unrebutted testimony is substantial evidence.  Today, we start the process of understanding Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers (SOC 51-2022) (equipment assemblers).  In this piece, we survey the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Occupational Employment Quarterly, and Job Browser Pro.

We start this process with the survey of the DOT. Equipment assemblers contains 61 DOT codes.

Sedentary: 3 occupations, 1 unskilled
Light: 39 occupations, 10 unskilled
Medium: 16 occupations, 1 unskilled
Heavy: 3 occupations, 0 unskilled

Still looking for the broad overview, we turn to the Occupational Outlook Handbook.  The OccuCollect OOH report states:

51-2022 Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

Typical Education Needed,	High school diploma or equivalent
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
Typical On-The-Job Training Needed to Attain Competency	Moderate-term on-the-job training
2016 Employment	218,900

The typical requirements are a high school or equivalent education, no prior work experience, and are either semi-skilled or skilled.  Equipment assemblers represent 218,900 jobs.  Most of them require education and training that precludes identification by a vocational expert as target work at step 5 of the sequential evaluation process.  .

A gross equal distribution method would lead a vocational expert to identify 3,600 sedentary jobs and 35,900 light jobs.  The equal distribution method crumbles with cross-examination and the submission of rebuttal evidence.  

The Occupational Employment Quarterly (version 3.1 4th quarter 2018) uses a different data set for job numbers and reports 3,054 sedentary unskilled jobs and 30,541 light unskilled jobs.  

Job Browser Pro (version 1.67, 2017 job estimates) estimates about 1,600 jobs as a sedentary unskilled stem mounter.  JBP estimates about 78,000 jobs as light unskilled equipment assemblers.  JBP's analysis puts over half of these jobs as a record-changer assembler (DOT 720.687-010).  

Two sources suggest that some analysis of equipment assemblers will lead to a significant number of jobs in the light range of exertion and a piece at the sedentary range of exertion.  The problem rests on the gross equal distribution used by the OEQ and the sub-industry use of equal distribution by JBP.  We examine the Bureau of Labor Statistics in our next piece. 

See When to Use Occu Collect.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers - SOC 51-2022

Vocational expert assumes a limitation to light or sedentary work with additional limitations including a sit-stand option and occasional superficial contact with coworkers and supervisors.  The vocational expert identifies an occupation on this list:

DOTCode	DOTTitle	SVP	STRENGTH
720.687-010	RECORD-CHANGER ASSEMBLER	2	L
725.384-010	TUBE ASSEMBLER, ELECTRON	2	L
725.684-018	STEM MOUNTER	2	S
726.687-022	ENCAPSULATOR	2	L
727.684-014	BATTERY ASSEMBLER, PLASTIC	2	L
727.687-022	ASSEMBLER, DRY CELL AND BATTERY	2	L
727.687-046	CELL TUBER, HAND	2	L
727.687-082	WAFER-LINE WORKER	2	L
729.684-046	SPARK-PLUG ASSEMBLER	2	L
729.684-054	SUBASSEMBLER	2	L
729.687-010	ASSEMBLER, ELECTRICAL ACCESSORIES I	2	L

According to the vocational expert, there are 20,000 jobs in the single occupation identified.  We check the Occupational Outlook Handbook to start the process of determining whether the vocational expert is reliable.  The OOH states that electrical and electronic equipment assemblers are summarized:

51-2022 Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

Typical Education Needed	High school diploma or equivalent
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	None
Typical On-The-Job Training Needed to Attain Competency	Moderate-term on-the-job training
2016 Employment	218,900

The group includes 61 DOT codes at sedentary through heavy exertion and SVP 2 to 7 in skill level.  The occupation has typical requirements of a high school education or equivalent and is typically semi-skilled to skilled. 

The Occupational Requirements Survey does not provide data for this occupational group through the 2017 data release. 

The O*NET OnLine does not provide a basis for segregating out skilled and unskilled occupations much less by exertion.  We can just fold the tent and trust the vocational expert, break out Job Browser Pro which will divide the industries up equally among the 61 contenders, or keep working.  Let's use option number three. 

The O*NET Resource Center provides education, training, and experience data for occupations other than "all other" groups that do not have a specialty designation, i.e. **-***9.00.  The ORC reports:

51-2022 Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

SVP	Percent
1	12.12
2	32.88
3	16.4
4	16.82
5	13.59
6	8.2
7	0
8	0
9	0

The 12 unskilled DOT codes (one more requires medium exertion) make up 45% of the jobs.  That starts the process at over 90,000 jobs.  That interim point begins the next phase of questioning about the individual requirements of the 12 DOT codes and whether nonexertional, education, or other factors erode the occupational base. 

Sometimes we explore an occupational group and find that while the vocational expert is not right, the testimony is at least plausible because of a lack of data.  When the Occupational Requirements Survey includes this occupational group, we will have data on strength as well as prolonged sitting, standing, and walking.