Touch-Up Screener, Printed Circuit Board Assembly -- An Illustration

Touch-up screener, printed circuit board assembly is a fairly common sedentary unskilled occupation identified by vocational witnesses.  Touch-up screener requires frequent reaching, handling, and fingering; constant near acuity; and average clerical perception, finger dexterity, and manual dexterity.  Within those parameters, the DOT supports the existence of that occupation.  The question is how many.  Here are the last 10 cases in Google Scholar identifying touch-up screener and the numbers of job, if stated:

Amador v. Kijakazi	48,000
Black v. Kijakazi	8,000 to 10,000
Cindy LS v. COSS	9,000
Williams v. Kijakazi	3,000
Mitchell v. COSS	unstated
Davis v. COSS	32,700
Christopher H. v. Kijakazi	unstated
Sherri S. v. Kijakazi	unstated
Kyle S. v. COSS	unstated
Fields v. COSS	17,000

The first thing we notice is that the range runs from 3,000 to 48,000 jobs.  There is no consistency.  One, some, most, or all the VW are pulling the answers out of a hat.  

For job numbers, we start with Job Browser Pro.  JBP estimates 1,074 touch-up screener jobs in the nation.  The best estimate from a VW is almost three times the JBP estimate.  Returning to the DOT, we examine the industry designation, electronic components.  The DOT defines that industry:

ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS AND ACCESSORIES INDUSTRY: This designation includes occupations concerned with manufacturing, assembling, and repairing electronic components. Electronic components are parts of electronic equipment that affect the current characteristics within its circuit. Included as electronic components are resistors, capacitors, coils, chokes, inductors, printed circuit boards, semiconductors, tubes, transistors, diodes, television antennas, headphones, piezoelectric crystals and crystal devices, computer logic modules filters, flipflops, gates, inverters, voltage dividers, delay lines, and wave guides. Occupations concerned with the manufacture of electrical machinery, equipment, and appliances or wire telephone or telegraph equipment are included in the ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY (elec. equip.) and occupations concerned with the manufacture of radio and tv receiving and broadcasting equipment and accessories are included in the RADIO, TELEVISION, AND COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY (comm. equip.). Occupations concerned with manufacturing blank and prerecorded magnetic tapes and phonograph records are included in the RECORDING INDUSTRY (recording).

Having established the integral part of the DOT presentation, we look to the industries used by JBP:

333300	Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing
334100	Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing
334300	Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing
334400	Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing
334500	Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing
335200	Household Appliance Manufacturing
335300	Electrical Equipment Manufacturing
336400	Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing

Without diving too deep into the weeds, those industry selections sound in a plausible range.  Within those industries, JBP estimates a total of 53,402 jobs spread out between 20 and 79 DOT codes at each occupation-industry intersection.  JBP arrives at 1,074 jobs for touch-up screener.  

Comparing JBP's occupation (inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (SOC 51-9061)) to those same industry groups, the OEWS estimates 62,930 jobs and the EP estimates 62,400 jobs.  That is a 15% unexplained departure from JPB to BLS data.  It is not in our favor so we let it go.  

This is where we cross-examine the VW:

    1. Do you agree that touch-up screeners belong to the occupational group of inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (SOC 51-9061)?

    2. Do you agree that inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers contains 782 different DOT codes at various exertion and skill levels?

    3. Do you agree that inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers represents between 551,000 (OEWS) and 558,000 (OOH/EP) jobs considering all 782 DOT codes?

    4. Did you consider the DOT designation of electronic components and accessories in estimating job numbers?

    5. What industries reported in County Business Patterns did you classify as employing touch-up screeners?

    6. State the NAICS codes for those industries?

    7. How many other testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers DOT codes co-exist the touch-up screeners in those industries that you just listed?

    8. What percentage of jobs at those occupation-industry intersections are unskilled?

    9. What percentage of jobs at those occupation-industry intersections are sedentary?

    10.  What percentage of jobs at those occupation-industry intersections are both sedentary and unskilled?

These 10 questions illustrate the granular nature of the question:

    What is your reliable well-accepted methodology for estimating job numbers?

Inside baseball statistics:  

    

    1. The ORS reports that 10.4% of testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers engage in sedentary exertion.  

    2. The ORS reports that 15.0% of testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers engage in unskilled work.

A VW would have to assume that all 10.4% of sedentary jobs are unskilled and that all of them work as touch-up screeners with no other occupations at the occupation-industry intersections to estimate anything close to 50,000 jobs for touch-up screeners.  More likely that 10% of the jobs at those occupation-industry intersections are sedentary and 15% of those are unskilled.  That is true if exertion and skill have no correlation.  To answer the question posed, most or all the VW are pulling the answers out of a hat.  

___________________________

Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Touch-Up Screener, Printed Circuit Board Assembly -- An Illustration, California Social Security Attorney (August 8, 2022) https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2009. 

  

What is Your Reliable Methodology for Extrapolating Your Experience?

That is the question that we should all ask in the course of cross-examining vocational experts in Social Security disability hearing.  What is your reliable methodology for extrapolating your local experience to the national economy?  The reason that this question should be deeply ingrained into the practice of every representative that does this kind of work is simple, that is the question that the Supreme Court directs us to ask.  Biestek v. Berryhill says:

Now say that she testifies about the approximate number of various sedentary jobs an applicant for benefits could perform. She explains that she arrived at her figures by surveying a range of representative employers; amassing specific information about their labor needs and employment of people with disabilities; and extrapolating those findings to the national economy by means of a well-accepted methodology.

(Emphasis added). 

The well-accepted methodology could take the form of using Job Browser Pro because the vocational expert could say that it is accepted by the community of vocational experts as reliable.  The  First Circuit accepted that testimony in Purdy v. Berryhill.  Well-accepted should not include the equal distribution method of calculating job numbers, at least not when conflicting evidence is present.  The Seventh Circuit suggested that result in Chavez v. Berryhill.  Here is what Biestek says about the Chavez line of questioning:

Even without specific data, an applicant may probe the strength of testimony by asking an expert about (for example) her sources and methods—where she got the information at issue and how she analyzed it and derived her conclusions. See, e.g., Chavez v. Berryhill, 895 F.3d 962, 969-970 (CA7 2018).

Most vocational experts either use Job Browser Pro, the equal distribution method (with or without knowing it), or have no discernible methodology at all.  This results in identifying the entire SOC/OES number of jobs as applicable to a single DOT code.  That methodology is worse by equal distribution; it is just lazy and ignorant. 

Here is a working list after hearing the vocational expert identify jobs and job numbers:

1. Confirm the DOT code.
2. Obtain the SOC/OES code.
3. Obtain the number of jobs in the SOC/OES code (most will not know).
4. Obtain the number of DOT codes within the SOC/OES code (most will not know).  
5. Ask for the reliable and well-accepted methodology for extrapolating the local experience to the national economy.  

With that information, we can disassemble the vocational expert testimony post-hearing.  If we use the O*NET and the Occupational Requirements Survey during the hearing (use OccuCollect.com), we can ask after an offer of proof of what the Department of Labor says:

6.  Who as greater resources for accumulating job requirements data (or job numbers data) in the national economy, you or the Department of Labor?

We still have the industry-occupation matrix used by Job Browser Pro, the BLS employment projections, and the Occupational Employment Statistics.  If that route is necessary ask:

7. In what industries, by NAICS code and name, does this occupation work?

We must have the first five.  Number six is the concession by which we hang the witness testimony.  Number seven tightens the knot.  We must use the data from Labor for the sake of our client's benefit entitlement. 

When to Use Occu Collect

Occu Collect can be used for hearings both during and post-hearing, and for Appeals Council briefs.  

During the hearing, we can look up Dictionary of Occupational Titles; Selected Characteristics of Occupations, and O*NET Online worker requirements.  We can look up Occupational Outlook Handbook job numbers and typical characteristics for education and training.  We can look up occupational requirements survey data about how the jobs are really done within the Occupational Requirements Survey.  Post-hearing, we can put together an evidence submission to show conflict with the vocational expert.  At the Appeals Council, we can put evidence into the record to show conflict.

Evidence submissions to the ALJ is best practice.  In most circuits, submission to the Appeals Council is sufficient to preserve the issue.  

Occu Collect has a DOT-SCO summary and the DOT codes by O*NET/Standard Occupational Classification group.  Those are free just for signing up.  

Full DOT, SCO, O*NET, OOH, and ORS reports (with in-place definitions of terms of art) come with a paid subscription.  Occu Collect has specially reports that describe data from all the sources for specific recurring issues (DOT code with specific data on that worker characteristic from all sources).  

We will post a 400+ page compendium of the sedentary occupations for download to subscribers soon.

Unskilled Sedentary Work in the Boot and Shoe Industry

The DOT lists six occupations requiring sedentary exertion, no skills, and work in the boot & shoe industry either as the sole industry.  The DOT lists 220 occupations containing the descriptor of boot & shoe industry at all exertion and skill levels.  Some other occupations within the boot & shoe industry work in other described industries, but none of the sedentary unskilled occupations do, per the DOT.  The occupations and their SOC group assignments:

51-9123	Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	788.687-166	WHITE-SHOE RAGGER
51-9198	Helpers--Production Workers	788.687-022	BUCKLER AND LACER
		788.687-114	SHANK TAPER
51-9199	Production Workers, All Other	788.687-158	VAMP-STRAP IRONER
53-7063	Machine Feeders and Offbearers	690.686-046	PLASTIC-DESIGN APPLIER
		690.686-066	TOGGLE-PRESS FOLDER-AND-FEEDER

County Business Patterns describe the footwear manufacturing industry group (NAICS 316200):

This data leads to the inference that whatever sedentary unskilled jobs exist in the boot & shoe industry, those jobs exist in very minimal numbers that do not reach the level of significant numbers of jobs.  The employment projections for the industry subsector (NAICS 316000) lends credence to this inference:

Employment by industry, occupation, and percent distribution, 2016 and projected 2026
316000 Leather and allied product manufacturing
(Employment in thousands) Occupations with fewer than 50 jobs, confidential data, or poor quality data are not displayed
	Occupation		2016
Sort Order	Code	Title	Employment	Percent of industry
1	00-0000	Total, all occupations	29.5	100.0
99	51-9123	Painting, coating, and decorating workers	0.1	0.3
102	51-9198	Helpers--production workers	0.5	1.8
113	53-7063	Machine feeders and offbearers	0.2	0.8

Missing from the EP list is a number of jobs greater than 50 for the occupational group of production workers, all other (SOC 51-9199).  Vamp-Strap Ironer does not exist in relevant numbers much less significant numbers.  Assuming that the 800 jobs in leather and allied product manufacturing represent only unskilled jobs, the sedentary occupations in the boot & shoe industry (footwear manufacturing) would represent less than 400 jobs.  

Find the DOT, SCO, O*NET, OOH, and ORS data for these occupations on Occu Collect.  

Garment Folder Represents 57,000 Jobs: How Do You Know That?

In two separate hearings, Mary Jesko testified as a vocational expert.  In neither case was Jesko prepared for cross-examination.  That puts the cases in post for interrogatories and possible supplemental hearings.  

Case #1:  Assume younger individual with limitation to light work; occasional postural activities; no crouching; limited to simple repetitive tasks defined as one- and two-step instructions; no fast paced work; at an observably slower pace.  Assuming less than a 10% loss of productivity measured over a day, Jesko identified:

Garment folder – 789.687-066 Light SVP 2
57,000 jobs
 Gluer – 795.687-014
Light SVP 2
20,000 jobs
 Steam Presser 789.687-166
Light SVP 1
28,000 jobs

When asked for the Standard Occupational Classification codes, Jesko said she didn't have them but would have to look them up on a crosswalk.  

When asked how she estimated the job numbers, Jesko testified that she used the Occupational Employment Statistics as the base and then considered the industries to get the job numbers.  

Q: Well, then you must have the OES numbers since you used the OES statistics. 
A: No, I would have to use the crosswalk to get the OES numbers.   

That is actually a good answer because the OES numbers and the SOC codes are the same six-digit codes.   Your intrepid examiner looked up the occupational groups on OccuCollect and posed them to Jesko.  Nope, she wouldn't acknowledge the easily ascertained information.  From OccuCollect's DOT full report, the first five lines:

DOT Code: 789.687-066
SOC Code: 51-9198.00
O*NET URL: https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/51-9198.00
DOT-O*NET Crosswalk: https://www.onetonline.org/crosswalk/DOT?s=789.687-066 &g=GO
DOT Name: Garment folder (garment)

SOC 51-9198 are the helpers production workers.  The OOH provides:

Occupational Outlook Handbook Report

Quick Facts: Helpers--production workers
Typical Entry-Level Education	High school diploma or equivalent
Work experience in a related occupation	None
On the job training	Short-term on-the-job training
Number of jobs, 2016	426,000
Employment Projections	XLSX

The DOT crosswalk inside of the O*NET lists 553 distinct DOT codes that form helpers - production workers.  That pesky XLSX link in the OOH box opens up the Employment Projections for this group. The DOT narrative identifies the industry as garment; knitting.  The EP state the job numbers:

Code

Title

Employment

313-40

Textile mills and textile product mills

5.9

315-60

Apparel, leather and allied product manufacturing

3.2

The employment numbers are in thousands:  9,100 jobs in the textile and apparel manufacturing industry subsectors.  Our friends at Job Browser Pro identify industry groups 314900, 315200, and 315900.  The EP for those applicable subsectors:

Code

Title

Employment

314000

Textile product mills

2.6

315000

Apparel manufacturing

2.6

Now we are down to 5,200 jobs in the nation.  JBP lists 30 helpers - production workers that exist in the textile product mills industry; 21 that exist in apparel manufacturing (315200); and 23 that exist in the second apparel manufacturing industry group (315900).  JBP estimates 63 garment folders in the nation.  

Jesko's affinity with the OES will not save her.  The current OES numbers as of May 2017 state that employment of helpers - production workers has declined to 402,140 jobs in the nation.  The top industry employing helpers is employment services (NAICS 561300) at 129,160 jobs.  The next highest employer of helpers is animal slaughtering and processing (NAICS 311600) at 24,210.  None of the next three industries amount to 57,000 jobs and none of them touch on the garment industries.  The OES does not throw a lifeline to Jesko.  

County Business Patterns will pour cement in the testimonial trap.  CBP now has the 2016 data.  For our two industry subsectors for this occupation:

NAICS code         Name                                          Paid Employees March 12, 2016

314                       Textile product mills                   113,013

315                       Apparel manufacturing               96,791

The EP provides the percentage of helpers in the industries:  2.2% and 2.0%.  

With a hotspot and computer or internet enabled phone everything presented here is available on the fly.  How does Mary Jesko know that there are 57,000 jobs as a garment folder in the national economy?  She doesn't.  There is no statistical support for that testimony.  

Production Workers, All Other, and Temporary Jobs

The "go-to" employment category is production workers all other.  The is SOC group 51-9199 that contains 1,526 DOT codes.  The O*NET continues to list 1,590 DOT codes.  That list includes one duplicate which is why US Publishing cites 1,589 codes.  Labor moved 62 DOT codes to food production workers, all other, SOC 51-3099. Labor moved to other codes to other groups which leaves the group with 1,526 DOT codes.  For more details, see Understanding Production Workers All Other -- SOC 51-9199.

The employment projections list 263,500 jobs in production workers, all other.  The O*NET rounds that up to 264,000.  When we go to the employment projections and scroll down to the Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (NAICS sector 560000), we find that the employment projections lists 96,400 jobs.  The Temporary Help Services industry (NAICS 561320) employs 90,400 jobs.  The Census Bureau describes the industry:

561320 Temporary Help Services

This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in supplying workers to clients' businesses for limited periods of time to supplement the working force of the client. The individuals provided are employees of the temporary help services establishment. However, these establishments do not provide direct supervision of their employees at the clients' work sites.Illustrative

• Examples:
• Help supply services
• Model supply services
• Labor (except farm) contractors (i.e., personnel suppliers)
• Temporary employment or temporary staffing services
• Manpower pools

Any estimate of the occupations within production workers, all other, group must remove 90,400 jobs if there are any restrictions on exertion or non-exertional activities. That wipes out over a third of the number of jobs in the occupational group.  The employment projections list 113,500 jobs in the manufacturing sector.  No manufacturing occupation that falls into production workers all other can ever represent more than a fraction of that number.

The Interesting Puzzle of Barker -- Does it Exist and in How Many Jobs

I received a challenge to disassemble the occupation of barker.  The DOT describes it:

342.657-010 BARKER (amuse. & rec.) alternate titles: carney; spieler
Attempts to attract patrons to entertainment by exhorting passing public, describing attractions of show and emphasizing variety, novelty, beauty, or some other feature believed to incite listeners to attend entertainment. May conduct brief free show, introducing performers and describing acts to be given at feature performance.
GOE: 01.07.02 STRENGTH: L GED: R3 M2 L3 SVP: 2 DLU: 77

The O*NET says that barker belongs to amusement and recreation attendants.  The O*NET reports an occupational base of 300,000 jobs.  The OOH uses the same data set and reports the same number of jobs, 300,000.  The 2017 release of the OOH (2016-18) links to the BLS reports in the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).  The OES reports 310,970 jobs as amusement and recreation attendants as of May 2017.

The OES gives industry profile data.  About half the jobs exist in the Other Amusement and Recreation Industries (NAICS 713900) and another large chunk in Amusement Parts and Arcades (NAICS 713100).  Those two industries employ 204,490 amusement and recreation attendants.

To figure out how many barkers exist, we need to know how many occupations exist in that group of amusement and recreation attendants.  The answer is 25 per the DOT crosswalk in the O*NET.

195.367-030 Recreation Aide
340.367-010 Desk Clerk, Bowling Floor
340.477-010 Racker
341.367-010 Recreation-Facility Attendant
341.464-010 Skate-Shop Attendant
341.665-010 Ski-Tow Operator
341.677-010 Caddie
341.683-010 Golf-Range Attendant
342.357-010 Weight Guesser
342.657-010 Barker
342.657-014 Game Attendant
342.663-010 Ride Operator
342.665-010 Fun-House Operator
342.667-010 Wharf Attendant
342.667-014 Attendant, Arcade
342.677-010 Ride Attendant
343.467-014 Floor Attendant
343.577-010 Cardroom Attendant II
349.477-010 Jinrikisha Driver
349.664-010 Amusement Park Worker
349.674-010 Animal-Ride Attendant
349.677-010 Cabana Attendant
349.677-014 Coach Driver
352.667-010 Host/Hostess
372.667-026 Flagger

Those occupations work in 14 different sectors according to the employment projections (a two digit NAICS code). Job Browser Pro lists 13 of these as occurring in the amusement and recreation industries. Those are the foundations for cross-examination.The DOT lists 217 codes that work in the amusement and recreation industries, not including those common to several industries.

Q: What is the SOC code for the barker occupation? 

Q: In what industry -- by NAICS code -- does the occupation of barker occur?

Q: How many DOT codes in "Amusement and Recreation Attendants, SOC 39-3091" exist? 

Q: How many other DOT codes in "Amusement and Recreation Attendants, SOC 39-3091" work in Amusement, gambling, and recreation industries?

Q: How many of the DOT codes in that intersection of occupation and industry require light exertion and can be learned in 30 days or less?

 To play the numbers game, we have to use Job Browser Pro. When we develop an ability to use JBP seamlessly, then we can jump into the employment projections and County Business Patterns. It all starts with affirming the DOT, SOC, and NAICS codes. Without those three pieces of data -- and how many other DOT codes exist in that intersection -- we cannot defeat the Bayliss/Purdy assumption of expertise and capacity of the vocational expert.

Final Assembler, Lens Inserter, and the Optical Goods Industry

Building on our inquiry into the morass of standardless vocational expert testimony, this article focuses on the frequently cited occupations of final assembler and lens inserter.  These two sedentary unskilled jobs are favorites of vocational experts asked to identify simple, repetitive, work.  With reasoning, language, and math ratings of 1, these are the lowest rung of simplicity.  They are one- and two-step instruction occupations.  They meet all the criteria of a vocational expert bent on satisfying the ALJ's request for the identification of work that exists in the national economy in significant numbers.  The problem is that they don't.

Curious, both occupations exist in the optical goods industry -- per the DOT.  Both final assembler and lens inserter belong in the Standard Occupation Classification group for production workers, all other.  The O*NET describes production workers, all other in the same way that it describes every SOC group ending in 99:

"All Other" titles represent occupations with a wide range of characteristics which do not fit into one of the detailed O*NET-SOC occupations. O*NET data is not available for this type of title. For more detailed occupations under this title, see below.

The O*NET tells us that the SOC group contains 236,000 jobs in 2014.  A question from the gallery -- doesn't that leave wide latitude for the vocational expert to identify tens of thousands of jobs in the national economy?  That answer depends on one more factor -- how big is the optical goods manufacturing industry?  Optical Goods Manufacturing, NAICS code 339115, provides the starting point for the interim answer.   County Business Patterns informs us that this industry employs 24,935 people.  That is the entire industry, not just the final assembler and the lens insert, the entire industry.

The structure of the NAICS needs a refresher.  We use the concept of drilling down.  The manufacturing sector is 31-33.  Every industry code with more than two digits is a subset of 31, 32, or 33.  Optical Goods Manufacturing belongs to the manufacturing sector (31),  Adding interim digits gets the industry designation more and more specific.  All miscellaneous manufacturing belongs to the three-digit group 339.  Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing belongs to the four-digit group 3391 and the five-digit group 33911.  The five specific industries in that group are surgical and medical instrument manufacturing; surgical appliance and supplies manufacturing; dental equipment and supplies manufacturing; and ophthalmic goods manufacturing.

Now we turn to the employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  BLS sorts the tables by industry or occupation.  The XLSX link for production workers, all other gives the data. So does the XLSX link for medical equipment manufacturing.   Production workers make up 3,500 of the employees in the medical equipment manufacturing industry or 1.1% of the workforce.  But the ophthalmic goods manufacturing industry employs 24,910 people.  That tells us that 274 production production workers have employment in the industry.

We already know that final assemblers and lens inserters are both production workers.  It gets better.  Production workers, all other contains 1,590 or 1,526 different DOT codes (depending on whether we use the 2010 allocations or the 2012 changes).  Twenty of them work in the optical goods industry.  Of the 274 production workers in the ophthalmic goods industry, those people work in 20 different occupations.

To testify that the occupations of final assembler or lens inserter comprise hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of jobs in the national economy requires either (1) overt prevarication of the witness; or (2) reckless disregard for the truth.  To believe that those occupations represent more than 274 jobs in the national economy takes either (1) a desire to deny benefits to people that cannot engage in identifiable work; or (2) complete naivete.  Pick 'em.

The numbers game

The vocational expert testifies to the presence of a hundred thousand jobs as a small product assembler -- do you believe it?

There are 145 million jobs in the nation.  There are 12,500 ish DOT codes.  On average, there are 11,600 jobs per DOT code.  But there are a whole lot more of certain jobs -- mostly skilled and semi-skilled.  Do you believe that any unskilled job has significantly more than the statistical average?

OK, vocational expert without any statistical expertise how did you get those numbers?

What are the Standard Occupational Classification groups for the occupations you identified?

There are 23 groups of SOC groups.  There are 818 different line item SOC codes.  Give me the one for this DOT code.

What are the North American Industry Classification System codes?

Work exists in certain industries.  The Census Bureau describes the numbers of jobs by NAICS code.  It is called County Business Patterns.

With the SOC and NAICS codes, anyone can look up the numbers of jobs within those intersections.  The BLS publishes employment projections that do exactly that.

How many production workers have jobs in the wood product manufacturing industry -- about 3,800. Look at line 48.

The wood product manufacturing industry employs 337,900 people.  Please don't tell me that a third of the people in that industry group have jobs as a dowel inspector.  I am not that naive.