Order Clerk, Food and Beverage, 209.567-014

Ah, the old order clerk, food and beverage, occupation ... how many of them really exist?  We follow our standard methodology starting with the DOT.  

I like the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) Job Descriptions.  The full DOT narrative and trailer:

209.567-014 ORDER CLERK, FOOD AND BEVERAGE (hotel & rest.)

    Takes food and beverage orders over telephone or intercom system and records order on ticket: Records order and time received on ticket to ensure prompt service, using time-stamping device. Suggests menu items, and substitutions for items not available, and answers questions regarding food or service. Distributes order tickets or calls out order to kitchen employees. May collect charge vouchers and cash for service and keep record of transactions. May be designated according to type of order handled as Telephone-Order Clerk, Drive-In (hotel & rest.); Telephone-Order Clerk, Room Service (hotel & rest.).
GOE: 07.04.02 STRENGTH: S GED: R3 M1 L2 SVP: 2 DLU: 77

Now slip over to the O*NET crosswalk.  Order Clerk, food and beverage, belongs to a broader group of Order Clerks, O*NET or SOC code 43-4151.  That group contains 196,000 employees or jobs.  From the custom report, we find that the group of order clerks contains 11 different DOT codes.  The custom report for work context tells us that 93% of the jobs require standing less than half the time or never.  

The O*NET detail page contains information.  Job zone tells us that these occupations usually require a high school diploma and have an SVP range of 4.0 to > 6.0.  The education breakdown confirms that 88% of the jobs require a high school education, some college, or an associate's degree.  

The O*NET links to the Occupational Outlook Handbook under the heading of Information Clerks.  This broader group includes 10 SOC codes, including order clerks.  The "how to become one" page describes the training as "short-term."  This translates to unskilled for SSA purposes with the OOH Glossary.  

Back to the job outlook tab and the XLSX link to the employment projections.  The EP confirms 195,900 jobs.  The DOT told us that order clerk, food and beverage, works in the hotel and restaurant industry.  The EP uses the NAICS codes from the Census Bureau.  The accommodation sub-sector (721000) employs 200 order clerks.  The food services and drinking places sub-sector (722000) employs 1,800 order clerks.  That's it.  That covers all hotel (accommodation) and restaurant (food and drinking) industries.  How many order clerk, food and beverage, jobs are there out there?  About 2,000.  

We can check the occupation-industry matrix sorted by industry to double check.  That page gives us a link to sector 72, accommodation and food services.  Scrolling down the page and looking for SOC code 43-4151 ... it isn't there.  There are too few jobs to warrant a line on the employment projections for the industry sector.  Order clerks (SOC 43-4151) are reported in the sub-sector reports (Accommodation 721000 and Food Services and Drinking Places 722000) but not in the sector report.  The sub-sector reports give employment numbers of 200 and 1,800.  In all the reports, the percent of industry employment that work as order clerks is less and 0.1%, so the reports state 0.0%.  

The next time a vocational expert suggests order clerk, food and beverage, as a viable occupation at step five of the sequential evaluation process, ask them to break it down by industry.