Accessing ORS Reports from Job Browser Pro -- Marker for Example

  Vocational witnesses identify marker, DOT 209.587-034, as a go to light occupation with simple routine or repetitive duties involving occasional contact. With reasoning level 2, marker fits the simple work mantra in many jurisdictions. VW find refuge in this occupation; Job Browser Pro estimates 165,000 jobs. 

One of the features of JBP is the hyperlink button to the ORS data. JBP reports the first final and second final wave estimates. For marker, the hyperlink button to "Show ORS Data" is greyed out. With 2,8 million jobs in the occupational group and 165,000 jobs in the DOT code, certainly the Bureau of Labor Statistics has gotten to this occupational group. It has. 

The 2018 revisions of the Standard Occupational Classification moved SOC 43-5081, stock clerks and order fillers, to SOC 53-7065, stockers and order fillers. The O*NET divided stock clerks and order fillers into detailed categories:

1.     SOC 43-5081.01, Stock Clerks, Sales Floor
2.     SOC 43-5081.02, Marking Clerks
3.     SOC 43-5081.03, Stock Clerks - Stockroom, Warehouses, or Storage Yard
4.     SOC 43-5081.04, Order Fillers, Wholesale and Retail Sales

The 2018 ORS dataset provided provides data for the first, third, and fourth, but not for marking clerks. The 2018 SOC moved the category to 53-7065. The O*NET did not maintain the four detailed classifications. Subsequent editions of the ORS also dropped the four O*NET detailed data and adopted the singular SOC classification for the numerous jobs and occupations.

The ORS did not cover marking clerks, including marker, in the 2018 data set. The ORS covers the entire range in the 2023 data set. Occu Collect provides all the reports in the front page or in archives. The question is how to extract the data from JBP and SkillTRAN.

Clicking on the hyperlink button takes the user to https://online.skilltran.com/cbp/orsResults.php?dot=XXXXXXXXX. If you try to go there directly, it won't work. That URL works from JBP but not natively. The nine Xs are the DOT code. Open JPB to any occupation that has ORS data. I use lens inserter. When you get to the DOT estimate for that other occupation, click on the ORS hyperlink. When JBP opens your browser to that page, change the URL with the DOT code for your occupation to the DOT code for marker, no hyphen, no spaces, "209387034." You now have the 2023 ORS data for stockers and order fillers.

What does the ORS tell us about stockers and order fillers? The jobs require SSA defined medium exertion and require more than six hours of standing and walking, 

Some may notice the the "SSA definition of medium exertion." BLS defines light exertion as lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling up to 25 pounds occasionally. The DOT used 20 pounds as do the SSA regulations. No matter what the ruling, ALJ, VW, or court may say, there is not soft much less a hard limit on the amount of standing and walking required of any range of work except sedentary, 2.7 hours. 

Use of other resources in Occu Collect as well as hyperlinked in JBP on the detailed job specialty page, the O*NET OnLine in particular, confirm the pedestrian observation that unskilled work requires working on conjunction with or proximity to others. Stockers and order fillers of occasional or no contact with others in 4% of jobs and do not have at least a fairly important job function of working with a group or team in 4% of jobs. 

If the question asks for light work (SSA definition), standing/walking six hours combined in a workday, simple and routine/repetitive tasks, involving no more than occasional contact/interaction with other, the occupation of marker does not fit based on exertion, standing/walking, and contact with others. JBP does not integrate the data from the ORS or the O*NET into its job number estimates. Those estimates arrive from an occupation-industry intersection divided by the DOT codes at that intersection. 

Some limitations in the tools we use have a workaround. This is one of them. 

___________________________

Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Accessing ORS Reports from Job Browser Pro -- Marker for Example, California Social Security Attorney (February 24, 2024, corrected March 8, 2024)

https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

The author has been AV-rated since 2000 and listed in Super Lawyers since 2008.

 

Vague Hypothetical Questions - Defining Temperature and Hazards

ALJs ask questions that contain vague terms and do not always define them.  There are circumstances where the vagueness does not present a material question.  In other circumstances, resolving vagueness will mean the difference between a favorable and an unfavorable decision.  

No exposure to temperature extremes is one of the limitations that arises.  The Selected Characteristics of Occupations defines exposure to extreme cold and extreme heat in Appendix D:

2. EXTREME COLD
Exposure to nonweather-related cold temperatures. In Part A, the rating for the Extreme Cold component appears second in the Environmental Conditions column under the vertical heading Co.

3. EXTREME HEAT
Exposure to non weather-related hot temperatures. In Part A, the rating for the Extreme Heat component appears third in the Environmental Conditions column under the vertical heading Ho.  

What are the measurements for extreme?  These are vocational factors that should not be left to silent definition by the vocational witness.  The Occupational Requirements Survey Collection Manual (found in the downloads section of www.occucollect.com) defines extreme cold (non-weather only) as:

40 degrees or below when exposed 2/3 or more of the time, or
32 degrees or below when exposed up to 2/3 of the time

Collection Manual, page 134.  Examples that meet one of those criteria are a meat cutter working in a 40 degree cooler more that 3/4 of the day or a freeze tunnel operator that wears protective clothing and enters that tunnel for short periods in -34 degree temperature.   Page 137.  Not included is the worker that shovels snow in the winter because it is weather related, a forklift operator that works in a non-temperature controlled warehouse as weather related, or the restaurant waiter that retrieves supplies from the freezer for the cook or food preparation staff when those workers are busy as incidental  

We defined our terms but now have other ambiguities.  The question asked about exposure to temperature extremes and the vocational witness relied on the SCO to identify jobs.  But the question did not permit exposure to weather related cold/heat.  Nor did the question permit incidental exposure to temperature extremes for the food server.  If the ALJ used the phrase temperature extremes, or the longer equivalent expression, the representative should question the witness when it matters.  

We find the same ambiguity in exposure to hazards, such as moving mechanical parts and unprotected heights.  We resort back to the SCO, App. D for the starting point definition:

8. PROXIMITY TO MOVING MECHANICAL PARTS
Exposure to possible bodily injury from moving mechanical parts of equipment, tools, or machinery. In Part A, the rating for the Proximity to Moving Mechanical Parts component appears eighth in the Environmental Conditions column under the vertical heading MP

The phrase such as typically precedes the examples.  The Collection Manual defines what Labor means by proximity to moving mechanical parts and high, exposed places:  the exposure must present a risk of bodily injury.  Collection Manual, page 134.  The presence of an environment where momentary loss of attention could result in bodily injury from the machine or falling, for example, represents a broader range of workplace prohibitions.  The Collection Manual provides examples of moving mechanical parts that could result in bodily injury:

• A deli worker operates a slicer to cut meats and cheeses. Even with required safety guards in place, injury is possible.
• A landscaper uses a chipper/shredder to mulch branches and tree debris.
• A worker who removes products from a machine or conveyor belt works close and could be injured while off-loading when machine is in motion.
• Mechanics working on running engines and moving vehicle parts while performing repairs.

An accountant using a crosscut shredder, use of a knife, the conveyor belt at the grocery store, using hand tools, or operating a taxi cab do not meet the threshold of a dangerous work environment.  Clearly the lethal weapon of a motor vehicle that could result in injury or death from a loss of concentration or focus but the ORS is more concerned with moving mechanical parts inside the vehicle.  

When addressing environmental limitations, the important part of cross-examination may turn to defining the terms.  One way to uncover the ambiguity of a hypothetical question is to object on vagueness.  The more subtle approach is the ask the vocational expert to state his/her understanding of the key terms.  

_______________________________________________________

SUGGESTED CITATION:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Vague Hypothetical Questions - Defining Temperature and Hazards, California Social Security Attorney (May 30, 2020) 
https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com/2020/05/vague-hypothetical-questions-defining.html

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.

Sedentary General Office Clerks -- A Continued Basis for Table 1 of the Medical-Vocational Guidelines

The Medical-Vocational Guidelines (grids) state that "'Sedentary work' represents a significantly restricted range of work, and individuals with a maximum sustained work capability limited to sedentary work have very serious functional limitations."  The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) lists 137 unskilled sedentary occupations.  Based on current data, 77 of those occupations represent no jobs.  The remaining 60 occupations represent approximately 1.4 million jobs in the national economy.  

That really is not accurate.  The remaining 60 occupations are in occupational groups that represent 1.4 million jobs in the national economy.  That is the more accurate statement.  About 45% of those jobs fall into the category of office clerks, general (SOC 43-9061).  The three occupations in the group are not good examples and probably don't exist in the national economy as described in the DOT in significant numbers that provide for substantial gainful earnings on a sustained basis.  The three occupations:

205.367-030 election clerk
249.587-014 cutter-and-paster, press clippings
249.587-018 document preparer, microfilming

Election clerk works during the election cycles, twice a year.

ELECTION CLERK (government ser.)

Prepares documents, such as brochures, pamphlets, and catalogs, for microfilming, using paper cutter, photocopying machine, rubber stamps, and other work devices: Cuts documents into individual pages of standard microfilming size and format when allowed by margin space, using paper cutter or razor knife. Reproduces document pages as necessary to improve clarity or to reduce one or more pages into single page of standard microfilming size, using photocopying machine. Stamps standard symbols on pages or inserts instruction cards between pages of material to notify MICROFILM-CAMERA OPERATOR (business ser.) 976.682-022 of special handling, such as manual repositioning, during microfilming. Prepares cover sheet and document folder for material and index card for company files indicating information, such as firm name and address, product category, and index code, to identify material. Inserts material to be filmed in document folder and files folder for processing according to index code and filming priority schedule.

That is not a good example of full-time  work representing a significant number of jobs in the national economy.

Cutter-and-paster, press clippings work with paper media.

CUTTER-AND-PASTER, PRESS CLIPPINGS (business ser.)

Tears or cuts out marked articles or advertisements from newspapers and magazines, using knife or scissors. Records name of publication, page and location, date, and name of customer on label, and affixes label to clipping.

Few people if anyone does that anymore.  These jobs are probably obsolete in the modern economy.

Document preparer, microfilming is similarly obsolete.

DOCUMENT PREPARER, MICROFILMING (business ser.)

Prepares documents, such as brochures, pamphlets, and catalogs, for microfilming, using paper cutter, photocopying machine, rubber stamps, and other work devices: Cuts documents into individual pages of standard microfilming size and format when allowed by margin space, using paper cutter or razor knife. Reproduces document pages as necessary to improve clarity or to reduce one or more pages into single page of standard microfilming size, using photocopying machine. Stamps standard symbols on pages or inserts instruction cards between pages of material to notify MICROFILM-CAMERA OPERATOR (business ser.) 976.682-022 of special handling, such as manual repositioning, during microfilming. Prepares cover sheet and document folder for material and index card for company files indicating information, such as firm name and address, product category, and index code, to identify material. Inserts material to be filmed in document folder and files folder for processing according to index code and filming priority schedule.

And that brings up to the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH).

 43-9061 Office clerks, general

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	3,117,700

We have been down this path before.  The typical education is a high school diploma or equivalent and the typical on-the-job training is 30 days or less.  The question is whether these occupations represent sedentary unskilled work and if so, how many jobs.  We start with Labor's statement that the O*NET provides current occupational information.  

43-9061.00 - Office Clerks, General

Structural Job Characteristics	%	Response
Duration of Typical Work Week — Number of hours typically worked in one week.	15	More than 40 hours
	59	40 hours
	26	Less than 40 hours
Exertional	%	Response
Spend Time Sitting — How much does this job require sitting?	60	Continually or almost continually
	25	More than half the time
	7	About half the time
	8	Less than half the time
	0	Never
	%	Response
Spend Time Standing — How much does this job require standing?	1	Continually or almost continually
	7	More than half the time
	12	About half the time
	72	Less than half the time
	9	Never
	%	Response
Spend Time Walking and Running — How much does this job require walking and running?	4	Continually or almost continually
	14	More than half the time
	14	About half the time
	32	Less than half the time
	36	Never

About 74% of the jobs are presumptive substantial gainful activity as full-time work; 60% sit the vast majority of the day; relatively few spend the majority of the day standing/walking.

43-9061.00 - Office Clerks, General

On-the-Job Training
Duration	Value
None or short demonstration	4.85%
Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month	27.91%

Related Work Experience
Duration	Value
None	7.72%
Up to and including 1 month	1.14%

Required Level of Education
Education Level	Value
Less than a High School Diploma	1.5%
High School Diploma or the equivalent	40.59%

The O*NET Resource Center suggests that less than 9% of these jobs would not require some skills.  Related work experience is a component of Specific Vocational Preparation along with education and on-the-job training.  We check the O*NET OnLine and Resource Center data against the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS).  

43-9061.00 - Office Clerks, General

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000064

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; svp is short demonstration only

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: svp is short demonstration only

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	4.4

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000075800000064

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000065

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; svp is beyond short demonstration, up to & including 1 month

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: svp is beyond short demonstration, up to & including 1 month

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	31.3

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000075800000065

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000661

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; strength is sedentary

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: strength is sedentary

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	73.3

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000075800000661

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000134

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: office clerks, general; hours of sitting (25th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: hours of sitting (25th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	5.25

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000075800000134

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000135

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: office clerks, general; hours of sitting (50th percentile - median)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: hours of sitting (50th percentile - median)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	6.4

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000075800000135

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000136

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: office clerks, general; hours of sitting (75th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: hours of sitting (75th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	7.2

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000075800000136

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000139

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: sitting vs. standing/walking at will is allowed

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	81.4

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000075800000139

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000085

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; literacy is required

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: literacy is required

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	15

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000075800000085

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000075

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; no minimum education requirement

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: no minimum education requirement

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	15.2

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000075800000075

Series ID: ORUV1000075800000076

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; minimum education level is a high school diploma

Requirement: Education, Training, And Experience

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: minimum education level is a high school diploma

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	78.7

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUV1000075800000076

The ORS describes a large segment of the work as unskilled and 73.3% as sedentary. 

43-9061.00 - Office Clerks, General

Office clerks, general		Jobs
Total reported jobs		3,117,700
Full-time (O*NET)	74.2%	2,313,333
Unskilled (ORS)	35.7%	825,860
Sedentary (ORS)	73.3%	605,355

More than half require sitting more than 6 hours per day. Over 80% of the jobs permit discretion of when to perform sitting versus standing/walking tasks.  Workers without a high school or equivalent education can perform 15.2% of the jobs.  Workers illiterate in English can perform must 0.2% of jobs.  

Even for workers without a high school equivalent education, the number of jobs is over 90,000.  A combination of a limitation on sitting and a limited education would leave around 25,000 jobs.  This occupational group remains viable for sedentary unskilled workers absent a combination of three or more limiting factors eroding the capacity for sedentary work. 

Look for the Occu Collect Calculator as part of the Sedentary Compendium breaking down the number of unskilled sedentary jobs in the national economy at OccuCollect.com in July 2019. 

See When to Use Occu Collect.

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.