It Is the Percentage of the Day, Not the Hours of the Day that Matters

In a NOSSCR CLE and in hearings before SSA, I heard presenters, vocational witnesses, and ALJs express reliance on the hours of the day for sitting and standing (including walking) relying on the Occupational Requirements Survey. In Social Security disability hearings, reliance on hours in a day is a mistake.  

We use packers and packagers, hand (SOC 53-7064) as our example of the day. The ORS reports:

Occupational Requirements – sitting, standing (including walking)	2018	2023	2024
choice of sitting or standing is allowed	4.3	2.3	<0.5
choice of sitting or standing is not allowed	95.7	97.7	>99.5
Percent of Day standing is required (10th percentile)	90	90	100
Percent of Day standing is required (25th percentile)	100	100	100
Percent of Day standing is required (50th percentile - median)	100	100	100
Percent of Day standing is required (75th percentile)	100	100	100
Percent of Day standing is required (90th percentile)	100	100	100
Percent of Day standing is required, mean	95.5	95.9	98
hours of standing (10th percentile)	4	4	6
hours of standing (25th percentile)	5	5.88	6
hours of standing (50th percentile - median)	8	8	8
hours of standing (75th percentile)	8	8	8
hours of standing (90th percentile)	8	8	12

The amount of standing at the 10th and 25th percentiles falls within the generally used (and wrong) assumption that light and medium work require six hours of standing/walking during a workday. The question is whether those jobs are full-time work. Packers and packagers stand 90 to 100% of the workday at the 10th and 25th percentiles. How can that be? The jobs are part-time. If a job requires four to six hours of standing during the workday and that standing represents at least 90% of the workday, the person is not working and eight-hour workday. Algebraically:

                                Workday x 90% = 4 hours

Divide each side by 90%. 

                                Workday = 4 hours / 90%

                                Workday = 4.44 hours

The O*NET reports that all packers and packagers work at least a 40-hour workweek.  The ORS disagrees. In the special release dataset for "SVP 1-2 and 35-40 weekly hours - reference year 2023," the downloaded XLSX spreadsheet states that 58.2% of packers and packagers work 35-40 hours and requires a high school diploma or less; 44.4% of packers and packagers have no minimum education requirement. The ORS reports  that 18.2% of packers and packagers require a high school diploma and 70.3% have no minimum education requirement. How do we get from 88% and 70% down to 58% and 44%? Some of the jobs require more than 40 hours and some represent part-time work. 

SSR 96-8p is clear that full-time work satisfies the Commissioner's burden at step five - the existence of other work assuming the claimant's medical-vocational profile. (A "regular and continuing basis" means 8 hours a day, for 5 days a week, or an equivalent work schedule.). At step four, part-time work may matter. (The ability to work 8 hours a day for 5 days a week is not always required when evaluating an individual's ability to do past relevant work at step 4 of the sequential evaluation process. Part-time work that was substantial gainful activity, performed within the past 15 years, and lasted long enough for the person to learn to do it constitutes past relevant work, and an individual who retains the RFC to perform such work must be found not disabled.). 

Do not allow vocational witnesses to use "hours" as a substitute for "percentage of the day" when assessing the requirements of work. Part-time work does not count. 

That was not always the case. Prior to 2003, the regulations provided for a step-five finding of the ability to perform other work "on a full-time or reasonably regular part-time basis." 20 CFR 404.1562, 416.962 (2002). SSA deleted that language in 2003. 68 Fed. Reg. 51153 (Aug. 26, 2003). The notice explains:

However, in SSR 96-8p, we explain that at step 5 we consider only full-time work when we consider other work you are able to do. (See 61 FR 34474, 34475 (July 2, 1996).) 

The number of hours that includes consideration of part-time work is not probative at step five. The percentage of the day is the better measure of how much time a worker will spend sitting or standing/walking during a full-time workday. 

___________________________

Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, It Is the Percentage of the Day, Not the Hours of the Day that Matters, California Social Security Attorney (July 25, 2025)  https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

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

 

Vocational Expert Handbook Video Presentation -- Sedentary Work ID'd -- Sitting, Reasoning, and Job Browser Pro

The March 2023 version of the Social Security Vocational Expert Handbook is out. Vocational Expert Handbook (SSA Mar. 2023). A video , not found on the SSA channel on YouTube.com, explains the Handbook. The mock hearing in the middle of it all provides an example of good testimony that shocks the conscience.  

ALJ: Assume a hypothetical individual with the claimant's age, education, and past work experience is able to perform light work as defined in the regulations, except they can occasionally climb ramps and stairs, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and crawl; and can never climb ladders, ropes, or scaffolds; must avoid unprotected heights, moving mechanical parts, and operating a motor vehicle; can perform simple routine tasks; can make simple work-related decisions; and can occasionally interact with supervisors and coworkers, and never interact with the public. Could the hypothetical individual perform any work, and, if so, could you provide me with a few examples?

...

Now, assume the same limitations I stated in the first hypothetical except the individual is limited to sedentary work as defined in the regulations. Can that person perform any work?

VW: Yes, jobs such as document preparer: DOT code 249.587-018; sedentary, unskilled at SVP 2 with 30,000 jobs nationally.

Addresser: DOT code 209.587-010, sedentary, SVP 2, 25,000 jobs nationally.

And cutter-and-paster: DOT code 249.587-014, sedentary, SVP 2, with 10,000 jobs nationally. 

There are some differences in how the document preparer and addresser jobs are performed and currently as compared to the description and requirements in the DOT due to the availability of more modern technology now. For example, the description for document preparer says a person prepares documents, such as brochures, pamphlets, and catalogs, for microfilming, using a paper cutter, photocopying machine, rubber stamps, and other work devices. Microfilming technology has changed over time and now scanners are used to copy and help prepare documents for indexing and storage.

The rationale is the same for cutter and paster position, which is described in the DOT as tearing or cutting out marked articles or advertisements from newspapers and magazines, using a knife or scissors, and recording the name of the publication, page, location, date, and name of the customer on the label, and affixing the label to a clipping. More modern tools are used to perform this job, but the position is the same and it requires essentially the same functional abilities.

As for the addresser job, one of the tasks in the description in the DOT states "addresses by hand or by typewriter, envelopes, cares, advertising literature, and packages, and similar items for mailing." Now, envelopes, cards, advertising literature, packages and similar items for mailing are still sent, but the job may be performed by placing pre-printed labels on these items instead of doing them by hand or by typewriter, but they can still be performed by hand too.

Overall, more modern tools are used to perform these jobs, but the positional and functional requirements are effectively the same as explained in the DOT. My testimony is based on my experience and knowledge in the job market, including over 30 years of placing individuals into jobs and observing how the performance of these jobs has changed over time as well as vocational and rehabilitation counseling.

Under the guise of SSR 83-10, the agency and the vocational experts assume that a limitation to sedentary work includes a limitation to sitting six hours in an eight-hour workday. The first question is whether that assumption is true. The ruling states: 

Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required occasionally and other sedentary criteria are met. By its very nature, work performed primarily in a seated position entails no significant stooping.

Sedentary jobs are primarily seated and standing/walking are required occasionally. The ruling defines occasionally:

"Occasionally" means occurring from very little up to one-third of the time. 

Very little is less than two hours and one-third of the time is more than two hours. Standing/walking 

should generally total no more than about 2 hours of in 8-hour workday, and sitting should generally total approximately 6 hours of an 8-hour workday. Work processes in specific jobs will dictate how often and how long a person will need to be on his or her feet to obtain or return small articles.

1. Sedentary work does not have a rigid and fixed 6-2 split of sitting versus standing/walking. The no more than two hours and approximately six hours with the deciding factor contained in the processes of the specific jobs forms the exceptions that swallow the rule. That and of course facts. Do these jobs ever require as an essential job function or a bona fide occupational qualification the need to sit for more than two hours in an eight-hour day? Ask that question somewhere in the cross-examination. 

2. Reasoning level rests at the heart of work complexity. The Vocational Expert Handbook describes reasoning ability as part of the education component of the vocational profile. Pages 29-30. The Vocational Expert Handbook states clearly that simple or repetitive tasks have an apparent conflict with reasoning level 3 and directs the VW to "be prepared to explain how the hypothetical individual could perform this job." Pages 39-40. Document preparer requires reasoning level 3. The witness did not explain the apparent conflict. This issue does not require cross-examination. The issue must be argued at the close of the case. 

3. Job Browser Pro is the ubiquitous source for job numbers. The VW says

Document preparer: 30,000 jobs nationally.

Addresser: 25,000 jobs nationally.

Cutter-and-paster: 10,000 jobs nationally. 

JBP (ver. 1.7.4.1) says:

Document preparer: 15,670 jobs nationally in 2023.

Addresser: 2,068 jobs nationally.

Cutter-and-paster: 702 jobs nationally. 

This evidence must be presented to the ALJ before the decision is made. Some ALJs will not permit post-hearing evidence. They are wrong but put the evidence into the record during the hearing. 

In the next post on this subject, we will deal with the methodology problem including how the testimony plays into the JBP methodology. 

Stay tuned. 

___________________________

Suggested Citation:

Lawrence Rohlfing, Vocational Expert Handbook Video Presentation -- Sedentary Work ID'd -- Sitting, Reasoning, and Job Browser Pro, California Social Security Attorney (September 3, 2023) https://californiasocialsecurityattorney.blogspot.com

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

Prolonged Sitting and Office Clerks, General

Last week, we discussed office clerks, general as a basis for the continued viability of Table 1 of the Medical-Vocational Guidelines.  A person under  the age of 50 and restricted to the full range of sedentary work without the presence of transferable skills has a directed decision of "not disabled."  Most of the production related occupations no longer exist in any significant numbers at the sedentary range.  General office clerks continue to represent about 605,000 unskilled sedentary jobs in the nation.  That is clearly a significant number of jobs.

For this exercise, we assume no cognitive, social limitations, or manipulative limitations in performing unskilled work.  The deficit we do assume is a medically-based limitation to six hours of sitting in an eight-hour day.

43-9061.00 Office Clerks, General

Series ID: ORUP1000075800000133

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: office clerks, general; hours of sitting (10th percentile)

Requirement: Physical Demands

Occupation: Office Clerks, General

Estimate: hours of sitting (10th percentile)

Year	Period	Estimate
2018	Annual	3.75

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUP1000075800000133

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

Standing/walking more than occasionally disqualifies an occupation from classification as sedentary.  The 10th and 25th percentiles describe work that is not sedentary:

8 / 3 = 2.67

8 - 2.67 = 5.33

Sitting 5.25 hours per day is less than 5.33 hour per day. SSR 83-10 states as a matter of agency policy:

Even though the weight lifted in a particular light job may be very little, a job is in this category when it requires a good deal of walking or standing -- the primary difference between sedentary and most light jobs.

This observation fits with the classification of 73.3% of general office clerks as requiring sedentary exertion.  The 25th percentile cannot represent sedentary work.  

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

Sedentary work starts at about the 26.7 percentile.  Now we make some assumptions about the line between the 25th percentile and the 50th percentile.  Assume that the line is straight.  The difference between 6.4 and 5.25 is 1.15 hours of sitting in a day.  We account for 25 percentile increase, so divide 1.15 by 25.  That gives us 0.046 hours increase in the amount of sitting per percentile point increase.  Moving to the 26.7th percentile (a 1.7 percentile increase) yields 0.0782 hours.  Adding 5.25 to 0.0782 equals 5.3282.  Round that up and we get 5.33 hours, the absolute minimum for sedentary classification.  

What we really need to know is where the work crosses that 6 hour line.  This is a 0.75 increase from the 25th percentile.  

0.75 / 0.046 = 16.30345

The 6 hour mark is at the 41.3 percentile.  Stated differently, 41.3% of general office clerks sit 6 hours per day or less.  Of those general office clerks that do not sit more than 6 hours, most of the require more than sedentary exertion.  That leaves 15% of general office clerks that engage in sedentary exertion and sit 6 hours per day or less.  

Last week, we calculated that general office clerks engaged in unskilled work in 825,860 jobs.  If 15% of unskilled work is sedentary, then the number of sedentary unskilled general office clerks that sit 6 hours per day or less is 123,879 jobs.  

That calculation rests on the assumption that the person can both sit up to 6 hours and stand/walk up to 2.67 hours.  If the person can stand/walk 2 hours in a day, that person can perform jobs at the 41.3 percentile mark and no others.  Without the flexibility to stand/walk the full range of occasionally, a worker that cannot sit more than 6 hours is limited to 8,259 jobs. 

See When to Use Occu Collect.

Medium Exertion and Standing/Walking Six Hours in an Eight-Hour Day

That is the common state agency finding, common consultative examiner finding, and frequent ALJ assessment of residual functional capacity.  The claimant can stand/walk for six of eight hours during the workday.  The problem is simple:  standing/walking for six hours does not permit the full range of medium work or even most unskilled medium jobs.

We start with the Dictionary of Occupational Titles because the Commissioner treats the DOT as the holy grail of vocational resources.  The DOT says:

M-Medium Work - Exerting 20 to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10 to 25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects. Physical Demand requirements are in excess of those for Light Work.

Nothing about six hours of standing/walking in the DOT. 

Occu Collect has a free summary DOC/SCO report just for signing up.

The Commissioner cannot claim the privilege of construing the DOT but she does promulgate regulations:

Medium work. Medium work involves lifting no more than 50 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 pounds. If someone can do medium work, we determine that he or she can also do sedentary and light work.

 Nothing about six hours of standing/walking in the regulations.  The Commissioner construes her own regulations.  SSR 83-10:

3. Medium work. The regulations define medium work as lifting no more than 50 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 pounds. A full range of medium work requires standing or walking, off and on, for a total of approximately 6 hours in an 8-hour workday in order to meet the requirements of frequent lifting or carrying objects weighing up to 25 pounds. As in light work, sitting may occur intermittently during the remaining time.

 There it is.  Six hours in an eight-hour workday.  Pretty definitive except that is required just to perform the frequent lifting required of medium work.  The second phrase that is important is that "sitting may occur intermittently during the remaining time."

May is one of those words that strips all meaning out of everything that follows.  May in this context means that the person might sit in the remaining two hours.  But even if the worker does sit, the ruling does not imply that the person sits for the remaining two hours.  Instead, SSR 83-10 states that the worker might sit intermittently during the remaining time.  So might sit some of the remaining two hours of the workday.

If the person cannot perform more than six hours of standing/walking in an eight-hour day, that person cannot perform the full, wide, or any portion of medium work based solely on administrative notice.  The person must stand/walk for six hours and have the ability to stand/walk intermittently in the other two hours with scattered sitting in between.

We see this in current ALJ decisions.  The ALJ will find that the person can perform medium work as defined in the regulations.  But the medical evidence says six hours or about six hours.  Failure to reconcile the medical evidence to the fact finding is error.

Superficial Contact in Normal Work Duties

We addressed the issue of superficial contact with supervisors as incompatible with reacting appropriately to criticism from a supervisor.  We separately address the question on qualitative versus quantitative contact with supervisors and coworkers.  This typically engenders a re-definition of terms by the ALJ or the ALJ just ignores the cross-examination that in turn leads to a lengthy appeal.  In this piece, we address a method that uses vocationally recognized and relevant terms for which we have hard data.  We start with the assumption in the hypothetical question to occasional superficial contact with the public, coworkers, and supervisors.  The vocational expert identified three occupations representing a significant number of jobs.  It is now time for cross-examination. 

Q. Do you consider coordinating with other people to be superficial?
Q. Do you consider factual information exchange to be superficial?
Q. Do you consider gentle persuading to be superficial?

Coordinating with other people and persuading other people fall outside the superficial box.  Those two questions should get a "no."  That leaves factual information exchange to be the focal point of potentially superficial.  We used office clerks, general (SOC 43-9061) in the most recent articles, so we continue to use them as illustrative here. 

43-9061.00 (office clerks, general)

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001030

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; type of interaction with regular contacts is factual info exchange

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: type of interaction with regular contacts is factual info exchange

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	30.7

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001030

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001036

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; type of interaction with other contacts is factual info exchange

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: type of interaction with other contacts is factual info exchange

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	51.2

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001036

As between the two types of contacts, interacting with regular contacts is limited to factual information exchange in a smaller percentage of jobs -- general office clerks coordinate or persuade in the majority of jobs. 

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001031

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; type of interaction with regular contacts is coordinating

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: type of interaction with regular contacts is coordinating

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	62.8

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001031

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001032

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; type of interaction with regular contacts is gentle persuading

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: type of interaction with regular contacts is gentle persuading

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	6

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001032

Having suspected and then confirmed the inference, we can confidently state that the data shows that 30.7% of general office clerks are limited to factual information exchange as an expected part of the job performance.  We now turn to frequency.  

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001050

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; frequency of contact with regular contacts is continuous

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: frequency of contact with regular contacts is continuous

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	21.6

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001050

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001051

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; frequency of contact with regular contacts is more than once per hour

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: frequency of contact with regular contacts is more than once per hour

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	53.4

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001051

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001052

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; frequency of contact with regular contacts is more than once per day

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: frequency of contact with regular contacts is more than once per day

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	21.5

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001052

The data change the terminology.  Continuous translates over to constant easily.  More than once per hour is the corollary for frequent and more than once per day is the corollary for occasional.  If we use contact with other contacts, we get the phrase for seldom or never:

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001048

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; frequency of contact with other contacts is no more than once per day, including never

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: frequency of contact with other contacts is no more than once per day, including never

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	31.9

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001048

Getting to that definition has the serendipity of providing a hold on how many general office clerks have no contact with the public -- other contacts.

Now we get to the point where commonsense controls. Who is more likely to have contact with coworkers and supervisors to coordinate activity, unskilled or skilled workers? Who is more likely to have their work checked by a coworker or supervisor regularly during the workday, unskilled or skilled workers? This is our last data point for this discussion:

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001075

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; work review is more than once a day

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: work review is more than once a day

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	32.2

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001075

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001076

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; work review is once per day

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: work review is once per day

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	29.8

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001076

Series ID: ORUC1000075800001077

Not seasonally adjusted

Series Title: % of office clerks, general; work review is at least weekly

Requirement: Cognitive And Mental Requirements

Occupation: office clerks, general

Estimate: work review is at least weekly

Year	Period	Estimate
2017	Annual	24.7

https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/ORUC1000075800001077

Less than a quarter have their work checked less than daily; less than a third have their work checked daily; and a third get checked more than daily.  We have three competing assumptions to make about the world of work:

1. Unskilled workers have less contact with coworkers and supervisors compared to skilled or semi-skilled workers.
2. Unskilled workers have more contact with coworkers and supervisors compared to skilled or semi-skilled workers.
3. Unskilled workers have about the same contact with coworkers and supervisors compared to skilled or semi-skilled workers.

Absent a statistical basis for an assumption, the default has to be #3.  We go back to the OOH for the raw job numbers:

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 broke down the skill level based on ORS data to get to 1,100,548 unskilled jobs as a general office clerk.  We broke those numbers down to light and sedentary jobs and those with less than or equal to six hours of sitting.  Putting those conclusions together with today's data and we get:

43-9061.00 (office clerks, general)

# of Jobs	% Unskilled	# Unskilled
3,117,700	35.3%	1,100,548
# Unskilled	% Fact Info Ex.	# Fact Info Ex.
1,100,548	30.7%	337,868
# Fact Info Ex.	% > Daily	# > Daily
337,868	21.5%	72,642
# Unskilled	% Light	# Light
72,642	41.0%	29,783
# Light	% ≤ 6 hour sitting	# ≤ 6 hour sitting
29,783	25.0%	7,446
# Unskilled	% Sedentary	# Sedentary
72,642	32.8%	23,826
# Sedentary	% ≤ 6 hour sitting	# ≤ 6 hour sitting
23,826	25.0%	5,957

If we have an occasional superficial contact with others with either a sedentary or light residual functional capacity, the number of jobs drops below 30,000  in both exertion levels.  Imposing a limitation to six hours of sitting and the number of jobs becomes insignificant in most circuits.