There are eleven unskilled light and sedentary unskilled Dictionary of Occupational Title (DOT) codes classified under the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) formerly referred to as electrical and electronic equipment assemblers (SOC 51-2022). The O*NET crosswalk lists 61 DOT codes. The O*NET still addresses characteristics of SOC 51-2022. The first problem arises in establishing job numbers in current Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) or Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS).
The OOH collects assemblers and fabricators from eight SOC groups:
Those eight SOC groups aggregate to almost 2 million jobs. The closest match is SOC 51-2028. That SOC adds in electromechanical assemblers. The OEWS lists SOC 51-2028 Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical Assemblers, Except Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers and defines it:
This occupation includes 2018 SOC occupations 51-2022 Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers and 51-2023 Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers.
Problem solved. Electrical equipment assemblers listed in DOT that crosswalk to 51-2022 are now classified by the Department of Labor under SOC 51-2028. The OOH estimates 290,600 jobs. The OEWS estimates 267,440 jobs. The OOH includes self-employed people, the OEWS does not. The OOH relies on the Employment Projections (EP) published every two years, the OEWS is published annually on a three-year running average. Different methodologies yield slightly different results. The EP provide a total wage and salary employment, estimating 270,800 jobs in SOC 51-2028. That estimate, counting the same data as the OEWS, puts to the two sources less than 1% different.
The EP and OEWS put most of the jobs for SOC 51-2028 in the manufacturing sector (NAICS 31-33) and most of those jobs in four subsectors:
Back to the question of what the jobs require. The ORS and the O*NET report job requirements under SOC 51-2022. The ORS (2018, 2023) reports:
We can extract from the data several patent observations. Most of the jobs are either sedentary or light. Less than 30% of the jobs are unskilled. Many, if not most of the jobs sit more than six hours in a workday. At least 25% of the jobs that do not sit most of the day stand more than six hours in a workday.
BLS tells users how to calculate jobs numbers. Calculating Occupational Employment for Job Requirements. Multiply the serial percentages together. How many sedentary unskilled jobs exist with at least some choice of sitting or standing?
If a worker has a choice of sitting or standing, the ORS Collections Manual directs employers to code sitting as required. Page 112. The choice of sitting or standing exists when:
- Workers typically have the flexibility to choose between sitting and standing throughout the day and
- There is no assigned time during the day to sit or stand and
- No external factors determine whether an employee must sit or stand.
ORS Collections Manual, page 116. Use of a standing desk is an example provided. But so too does the ORS classify as a choice of sitting or standing for traveling sales representative choosing when to travel and when to make presentations, a billing supervisor that chooses when to resolve problems in the office, a clerk filing invoices, and a school teacher that chooses when to sit or stand while giving instructions. Page 117. Less than 40% of workers in SOC 51-2028 (including 51-2022) have a choice. That choice does not implicate a choice to stand/walk at least two hours in a workday for sedentary jobs. But for light and medium work, when the ORS lists a standing requirement (which always includes walking), a choice of sitting or standing does not apply. Choice is always categorized as sitting.
These data points are solvable. It starts with a desire to know, a desire not to let the witness rob your client of benefits. The solution to the puzzle requires a working knowledge of the DOT, crosswalks, OOH, EP, OEWS, O*NET, and ORS.
You can do this.
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Suggested Citation:
Lawrence Rohlfing, Electrical Assemblers -- the Data Is Solvable, California Social Security Attorney (December 31, 2024) https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com
The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2008.
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