Word Processors and Typists (SOC 43-9022) - Very Few Unskilled Jobs

We covered the concept that Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) is more than on-the-job training.  It includes prior work experience, training, and apprenticeship programs.  We discussed the proposition that at least five occupations in the DOT are obsolete.  This piece explores the proposition that Word Processors and Typists are typically semi-skilled.  This occupational group includes the nefarious Addresser.  We start with the Occupational Outlook Handbook. 

43-9022 Word processors and typists

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	74,900

The OOH sets the bar at high school education and short-term on-the-job training. High school education is not an SVP add-on. Short-term on-the-job training implies an unskilled occupational group. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data on the education level of incumbents through the employment projections:

Education Levels of Incumbents

43-9022 Word processors and typists

Typical Education Needed	High school diploma or equivalent
Less than a High School Education	2.8
High School Education or Equivalent	28
Some College, No Degree	32.1
Associates Degree	14.3
Bachelor's Degree	18.2
Masters's Degree	3.8
Doctoral or Professional Degree	0.7

This report points out that almost 70% of incumbents hold a greater level of education than the OOH describes as typical. The Department of Labor tells us to look to the O*NET for up-to-date information about work, so we do:

On-the-Job Training
Duration	Value
None or short demonstration	3.99%
Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month	47.55%
Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months	6.01%
Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months	8.32%
Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year	3.66%
Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years	13.63%
Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years	3.28%
Over 4 years, up to and including 10 years	13.39%
Over 10 years	0.18%

Related Work Experience
Duration	Value
None	4.03%
Up to and including 1 month	0%
Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months	5.01%
Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months	3.11%
Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year	40.36%
Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years	28.1%
Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years	5.97%
Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years	13.25%
Over 6 years, up to and including 8 years	0%
Over 8 years, up to and including 10 years	0%
Over 10 years	0.18%

Required Level of Education
Education Level	Value
Less than a High School Diploma	1.96%
High School Diploma or the equivalent	49.61%
Post-Secondary Certificate	0%
Some College Courses	45.45%
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree)	2.98%
Bachelor's Degree	0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate	0%
Master's Degree	0%
Post-Master's Certificate	0%
First Professional Degree	0%
Doctoral Degree	0%
Post-Doctoral Degree	0%

The data for on-the-job training fits with the OOH report of short-term on-the-job training. The plurality of the jobs require one month of less of training. The required level of education puts the education level of incumbents into context; many workers in this occupation have more education than is required by the work functions. The majority of word processors and typists have a high school education (including equivalents) or less.

The related work experience provides the ah ha moment. The plurality of these jobs require more than six month of related work experience, 40.36% of them. The percentage of jobs requiring one month or less (but some) of training is 0% and and the percentage requiring no related work experience is 4.03%.

With 74,900 word processors and typists in the economy, that percentage of no related work experience means that the number of unskilled jobs cannot exceed 3,019 jobs.  The number of unskilled jobs cannot exceed the lowest rating withing training, experience, and education.  Using that number assumes that the work requiring no experience are the same jobs that require one month of training or less and a high school diploma or less.  

This conclusion is not surprising.  Of the eight DOT codes within Word Processors and Typists, one of them is unskilled, three of them are semi-skilled, and three are skilled.  

DOTCode	DOTTitle	SVP
209.587-010	ADDRESSER	2
203.362-010	CLERK-TYPIST	4
209.382-010	CONTINUITY CLERK	5
203.382-030	WORD PROCESSING MACHINE OPERATOR	5
203.582-050	TELEGRAPHIC-TYPEWRITER OPERATOR	4
203.582-058	TRANSCRIBING-MACHINE OPERATOR	5
203.582-066	TYPIST	3
203.582-078	NOTEREADER	5

Addresser - obsolete and if unskilled work exists for word processors and typists, it does not represent a significant number of jobs.

A word about the education, training, and experience report:  the data is available form the O*NET Resource Center, as are all O*NET data.  OccuCollect puts the data into a report format that is readable, usable, and presentable.  Click on Account and start your experience today.  

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. 

Glossary of Terms for the Occupational Outlook Handbook

The Occupational Outlook Handbook proves a glossary of terms.  The important terms and phrases for disability adjudication purposes are:  

Current Population Survey (CPS): a national survey that samples 60,000 households on a monthly basis and collects information on labor force characteristics of the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population; the CPS is conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics

CPS is an important concept because the Occupational Employment Quarterly uses it -- despite the fact that the employment side of the CPS is not readily available.  It is flawed because it uses a frank aggregation methodology.  See.  

Education: levels of education typically needed for entry into an occupation are classified as follows:

Doctoral or professional degree: degree awarded usually for at least 3 years of full-time academic work beyond a bachelor’s degree; e.g., lawyers,physicians and surgeons, and dentists

Master’s degree: degree awarded usually for 1 or 2 years of full-time academic study beyond a bachelor’s degree

Bachelor’s degree: degree awarded usually for at least 4 years of full-time academic study beyond high school

Associate’s degree: degree awarded usually for at least 2 years of full-time academic study beyond high school

Postsecondary nondegree award: usually a certificate or other award that is not a degree. Certifications issued by professional organizations or certifying bodies are not included in this category. Programs may last only a few weeks to 2 years. e.g., nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics, and hairstylists

Some college, no degree: a high school diploma or the equivalent, plus the completion of one or more postsecondary courses that did not result in any degree or award

High school diploma or equivalent: the completion of high school or the equivalent, resulting in the award of a high school diploma or the equivalent

No formal educational credential: signifies that a formal credential issued by an educational institution, such as a high school diploma or postsecondary certificate, is not typically needed for entry into the occupation; e.g., janitors and cleaners, cashiers, and agricultural equipment operators

Work experience in a related occupation: the level of work experience in an occupation related to a given occupation; the work experience captures work experience that is commonly considered necessary by employers or is a commonly accepted substitute for other, more formal types of training or education

Five years or more: the number of years of experience in a related occupation typically needed for entry into a given occupation is more than 5 years

Less than 5 years: the number of years of experience in a related occupation typically needed for entry into a given occupation is less than 5 years

None: No work experience in a related occupation is typically needed for entry into a given occupation 

Education is one of four factors for consideration at step five of the sequential evaluation process.

Employment: the number of jobs in an occupation, including full-time jobs, part-time jobs, and self-employment

We can't establish the number of jobs if we don't have a number to start.

Work schedules: the number of daily hours, weekly hours, and annual weeks that employees in an occupation are scheduled to, and do, work. Short-term fluctuations and one-time events are not considered unless the change becomes permanent

Fixed work schedules: schedules under which employees who work those schedules do so on a continual basis, such as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Flexible work schedules: schedules under which employees set their own hours within guidelines and with a fixed number of total hours

Nonfixed work schedules: schedules of employees who work different hours on one job; often utilized to accommodate particular traits of individual workers or because the work required varies by individual

Rotating work schedules: schedules that have a fixed number of hours and time off over a period of more than 1 week, but not the same set hours

Full time: between 35 and 40 hours, inclusive, of work per week

Greater than full time: more than 40 hours of work per week

Part time: Less than 35 hours of work per week

This may require SSA to rethink the definition of substantial gainful activity as requiring a capacity for an eight-hour workday, forty-hour workweek.  Social Security Ruling 96-8p.

Important qualities: characteristics and personality traits that are likely needed for workers to be successful in given occupations

Qualifications: personality traits, education, training, work experience, or other qualities workers need to enter an occupation 

Qualities: characteristics and personality traits that are likely needed for workers to be successful in given occupations 

Think occupational adjustment.  This forms the substitute for temperaments from the occupational characteristics found in the published versions of the DOT and its companion publications.  One of the unselected characteristics is the temperaments.

On-the-job training: training or preparation that is typically needed, once employed in an occupation, to attain competency in the occupation. Training is occupation specific rather than job specific; skills learned can be transferred to another job in the same occupation.

Internship/Residency: training that involves preparation in a field such as medicine or teaching, generally under supervision in a professional setting, such as a hospital or classroom. This type of training may occur before one is employed. Completion of an internship or residency program is commonly required for state licensure or certification in a number of fields, including medicine, counseling, architecture, and teaching. This category does not include internships that are suggested for advancement.

Apprenticeship: a formal relationship between a worker and sponsor that consists of a combination of on-the-job training and related occupation-specific instruction in which the worker learns the practical and theoretical aspects of an occupation. Apprenticeship programs are sponsored by individual employers, joint employer-and-labor groups, and employee associations. Apprenticeship programs usually provide at least 144 hours of occupation-specific technical instruction and 2,000 hours of on-the-job training per year over a 3- to-5-year period. Examples of occupations that utilize apprenticeships include electricians and structural iron and steel workers.

Long-term on-the-job training: more than 12 months of on-the-job training, or, alternatively, combined work experience and formal classroom instruction, that is needed for workers to develop the skills to attain competency in an occupation. This on-the-job training category also includes employer-sponsored training programs, such as those offered by fire academies and schools for air traffic controllers. In other occupations—nuclear power reactor operators, for example—trainees take formal courses, often provided at the jobsite, to prepare for the required licensing exams. This category also includes occupations in which workers typically need to possess a natural ability or talent—musicians and singers, athletes, dancers, photographers, and actors, among others—and that ability or talent must be cultivated over several years, sometimes in a nonwork setting. The category excludes apprenticeships.

Moderate-term on-the-job training: more than 1 month, and up to 12 months, of combined on-the-job experience and informal training that is needed for the worker to develop the skills to attain competency in the occupation; this on-the-job training category also includes employer-sponsored training programs.

Short-term on-the-job training: 1 month or less of combined on-the-job experience and informal training that is needed for the worker to develop the skills to attain competency in the occupation; this on-the-job training category also includes employer-sponsored training programs.

None: no additional occupation-specific training or preparation is typically required to attain competency in the occupation.

Think SVP.  If the focus is on unskilled work, then none and short-term on-the-job training fit the model.  Everything else requires an explanation.

O*NET: an online research source that provides detailed descriptions of occupations for use by jobseekers, workforce development and human resources professionals, students, and researchers. Created for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, by the National Center for O*NET Development

Until we get a replacement for the DOT, this is it.  A lot of the titles are 40 years since last updated.  Industries and occupations have changed.  The O*NET gives a wealth of information about the world of work -- including the sit-stand option.

There isn't a good substitute for examining the glossary personally.

Call-Out Operator (DOT 237.367-014) No Longer Exists

The question today is whether the often cited occupation of a call-out operator continues to exist in the national economy.  Vocational experts cite this occupation in response to hypothetical questions with sedentary exertion and occasional use of the hands.  We start with the concept of administrative notice.

The Commissioner takes administrative notice of the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH).  20 C.F.R. § 404.1566(d)(5).  The regulation does not differentiate between the DOT and the OOH age as a source of reliable occupational data of which the Commissioner "will" take administrative notice.  No valid reason exists for comparing vocational expert testimony to the DOT (25 years out-of-date and out-of-print) and refusing to compare vocational expert testimony to the OOH (up-to-date, in print, and available online with its companion publications).

The OOH classifies financial clerks in a broad group of 10 smaller groups.  Included in that broad group is the occupational cluster of credit authorizes, checkers, and clerks.  Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, Financial Clerks, The small group designation for credit authorizes, checkers, and clerks bears the SOC code designation of 43-4041.  Id.  

For more information, the OOH refers users to the O*NET, including credit authorizers; credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks; and credit checkers.  Id.  The O*NET for SOC code 43-4041.00, credit authorizes, checkers, and clerks makes clear that it operates as a superset for two more precise designations: credit authorizers (SOC code 43-4041.01); and credit checkers (SOC code 43-4041.02).  O*NET OnLine, Summary Report for: 43-4041.00 - Credit Authorizes,Checkers, and Clerks, OOH states that the occupational group represents 46,100 jobs in the nation; the O*NET describes employment at an even 46,000 jobs. 
  
The sub-group of credit authorizes (SOC code 43-4041.01) contains a single DOT code of credit authorizer (DOT 249.367-022).  O*NET OnLine, Custom Report for: 43-4041.01 - Credit Authorizers.  The O*NET reports the same number of jobs – 46,000 employees.  O*NET OnLine, Detail Report for: 43-4041.01 - Credit Authorizers.  The O*NET describes the occupation as requiring SVP 6 to 7.  Id. 

The sub-group of credit checkers (SOC code 43-4041.02) contains three DOT codes for credit reference clerk (DOT 209.362-018); call-out operator (DOT 237.367-014); and investigator (DOT 241.267-030).  O*NET OnLine, Custom Report for: 43-4041.02 - Credit Checkers.  The O*NET reports the same number of jobs – 46,000 employees.  O*NET OnLine, Detail Report for: 43-4041.02 - Credit Checkers.  The O*NET describes the occupation as requiring SVP 4 to < 6.  Id.  

It is clear and without a doubt that the DOT classified the occupation of a call-out operator as requiring sedentary exertion, reasoning level 3, and SVP 2 (unskilled) in 1991, with a date last updated reference of 1977.  DICOT 237.367-014.  The Commissioner takes administrative notice of that fact.  It is equally clear and without a doubt that the economy has changed slightly in the last 40 years since the occupation was last updated by the Department of Labor for DOT purposes.  Labor now takes the position that the three occupations within the generic classification of credit checkers requires at least specific vocational preparation code 4 and less than 6, i.e. 5. The O*NET defines specific vocational preparation (SVP) in the same manner as the DOT.  O*NET OnLine Help, Specific VocationalPreparation (SVP).  Because the OOH incorporates the O*NET and the latter states clearly that unskilled credit checker work no longer exists.

A vocational expert owes the obligation to explain by reasonable evidence why it is appropriate to rely on a 1977 description of the occupation instead of a 2010 classification.   20 C.F.R. § 404.1566(d)(5).  Administrative notice establishes facts without evidence.  The O*NET establishes that the unskilled variety of this occupation does not exist.