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.

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.  

Progress and Pushing Vocational Experts to Reasonable Answers

A court remand case with the prior residual functional capacity finding:

After careful consideration of the entire record, I fmd that the claimant has the
residual functional capacity to perform a range of light work as defined in 20 CFR
404.1567(b) and 416.967(b). Specifically the claimant is able to lift pounds occasionally and 10 pounds frequently.  He can stand and/or walk for two hours out of an eight-hour day, with the ability to use a cane when ambulating outside of the work area; he can sit for 6 hours of an 8 hour day, but must have the ability to stand and stretch every hour estimated to take 1 to 3 minutes per hour.  He does not need to leave the work station to do the stretching.  He can occasionally bend, stoop, and crouch, but he cannot crawl or kneel. He cannot work at highly fast-paced work, such as rapid assembly line work, nor work requiring public contact- He can perform low stress jobs which is defined as jobs having occasional decision making or occasional changes in the work setting.

We have a younger individual with a limited education and unable to perform past work and lacks transferable skills.  The vocational expert is testifying today between two different ALJs so we have some time waiting for the VE.  ALJ asks me how I am going to get this claimant below sedentary.  I don't think I have to, this residual functional capacity will not permit work in significant numbers.  

Enter the vocational expert.  ALJ asks the VE to assume a person of any age, with any education, and any work history with the previously assessed residual functional capacity.  Vocational pauses, contemplates, and then answers, "no jobs."  

I have been in hearings with this judge and this witness many times before.  We all know that identifying some production job will focus on work pace; clerical positions will focus on changes and decision-making; all the counter clerk-type jobs are out for no public contact; and we have a total of four breaks totaling 12 minutes in addition to the California-mandated two 10-minute breaks and 30-minute meal break.  The VE focused on the realistic limitation to sedentary work; the elimination of light work because of a cane outside of the work station; the unavailability of production jobs; and the limitation to occasional decisions and changes.  "No jobs."  

This is not a VE that typically testifies "favorably" to claimants, but he isn't hostile to them either.  My post mortem analysis is that the history with this VE nudged him to the testimony and my history with the ALJ made him more likely to accept the testimony and explanation.  

"Any questions, counsel?"

Smile, "no questions, Judge."  

"Hearing adjourned, have a nice day."  

When to Cross-Examine Vocational Experts

I spend a lot of time pointing to the fallacy of most vocational expert testimony.  But that doesn't mean that the able representative should cross-examine the vocational expert in every instance about everything that is said.  The representative has to know when to bring out the long knives and when to bring out the scalpel.

Assume a younger individual limited to light exertion, standing and walking four hours in a day, simple work, and capable of occasional postural activities; limited education; and an unskilled work background.  The claimant cannot perform past relevant work.  The vocational expert identifies garbage numbers of assembly jobs that don't exist in significant numbers, and cashiers that require more complex reasoning.  If the intrepid representative knocks out all those occupations -- and clearly could -- where does that leave the claimant?  There might be light work with limited standing/walking and also SRT.  So what?  The claimant has a large swath of sedentary work available and that limited range of light work.  There is work and the statistics won't allow the claimant to get to no work by attacking the job numbers methodology.

The representative needs additional tools.  We can knock out the cashiering jobs as requiring reasoning level 3 (DOT for 211.462-010 CASHIER II) and the assembly positions as requiring a high school education and typically semi-skilled today (OOH for SOC 51-9199).  But the Commissioner assumes the presence of a significant number of jobs in the sedentary range and the hypothetical person grids as "not disabled" (Appendix 2, Rule 201.18).  Knocking out light work may be fun and good in the sport of discrediting the vocational expert, but it doesn't win the case.

The task at hand requires a different question of the vocational expert.  Has the ALJ omitted a mental limitation; a manipulative limitation; a side-effect of medication; or something else that erodes the occupational base?  Here is my list of DOT codes where the OOH classifies the work group as having no educational requirement and short-term training:

DOT	DOT TITLE	RML	SOC	DOT CODES	OOH JOBS
529.665-014	WASHROOM OPERATOR                        (sugar & confection)	211	51-9192	43	419,200
692.685-254	WINDOW-SHADE-RING SEWER       (furniture)	211	51-6031	128	153,900
713.687-034	POLISHER, IMPLANT                             (optical goods)	211	51-9022	66	15,800
739.684-162	UMBRELLA TIPPER, HAND                   (fabrication, nec)	211	51-6051	21	12,000
754.684-018	BIT SHAVER                                         (fabrication, nec)	211	51-9022	66	29,900
775.687-022	GOLD BURNISHER                                 (pottery & porcelain)	211	51-9022	66	29,900
782.687-046	SACK REPAIRER                                           (any industry)	211	51-6031	128	153,900
521687-010	ALMOND BLANCHER, HAND               (canning & preserving)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
529.687-138	LEAF TIER                                               (tobacco)	111	53-7062	48	2,441,300
559.687-014	AMPOULE SEALER                      (pharmaceuticals)	211	53-7064	59	695,400
683.687-018	HANDER-IN                        (narrow fabrics)	211	51-9198	553	419,200
685.687-014	CUFF FOLDER                                      (knitting)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
690.686-046	PLASTIC-DESIGN APPLIER                       (boot & shoe)	111	53-7063	291	104,200
690.686-066	TOGGLE-PRESS FOLDER-AND-FEEDER   (boot & shoe)	111	53-7063	291	695,400
694.686-010	CLIP-LOADING-MACHINE FEEDER (ordnance)	111	53-7063	291	695,400
712.687-034	SUTURE WINDER, HAND                      (protective devices)	211	51-9198	553	236,200
715.687-090	MOTOR POLARIZER                                  (clock & watch)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
734.687-086	SPLITTER, HAND                                      (button & notion)	111	51-9031	98	15,800
737.587-010	BANDOLEER STRAIGHTENER-STAMPER (ordnance)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
770.687-026	JEWEL STRINGER                                       (clock & watch)	211	51-9198	553	419,200
779.687-038	WAXER                                                           (glass products)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
782.687-030	PULLER-THROUGH                                     (glove & mitten)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
784.687-026	ENDBAND CUTTER, HAND   (hat & cap)	211	51-9031	98	15,800
788.687-022	BUCKLER AND LACER                                 (boot & shoe)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
788.687-114	SHANK TAPER                                             (boot & shoe)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
789.687-174	THREAD SEPARATOR                                 (textiles, other)	111	51-9198	553	419,200
920.687-030	BANDER, HAND                                                (tobacco)	211	53-7064	59	695,400
976.684-018	MOUNTER, HAND                                  (photofinishing)	211	51-9031	98	63,600