Understanding Production Workers, All Other -- SOC 51-9199

A favorite of vocational experts all across the country -- occupations within the designation of production workers, all other.  Click on the link for an O*NET list of 1,590 DOT codes that fall within the SOC group with the designation 51-9199. 

That isn't accurate.  Go back to the 2011 Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).  There isn't a 51-9199.  But there is a SOC/OES group designated 51-9399.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics explains for 2011:

* This occupation has the same title, but not necessarily the same content, as the 2010 SOC occupation

This OES occupation is a combination of data collected for the 2010 SOC occupations 51-3099 Food Processing Workers, All Other, 51-9199 Production Workers, All Other and the 2000 SOC occupation 51-9199 Production Workers, All Other. 

 In 2012, BLS reports jobs numbers for 51-9199 and 51-3099.  As of 2011, production workers, all other bore a child, food processing workers, all other.  When O*NET lists 1,590 DOT codes for 51-9199, it hasn't caught up to the split.  We know this because 51-3099 lists no DOT codes.  Our friends at SkillTran use their connections with Labor to ascertain that food processing workers, all other at 51-3099 contains 61 unskilled to skilled light to heavy occupations.  SkillTran's Job Browser Pro leaves 1,526 DOT codes in 51-9199.  I have not ascertained where the other three went -- it is beyond the scope of this piece.  What we do know is that 51-9199 contains fewer than 1,590 occupations because BLS put some of them into 51-3099. 

Back to the task at hand -- what is the nature of 51-9199 and how many jobs exist in any particular DOT code residing in that accumulation?  The O*NET characterizes 51-9199 as:

"All Other" titles represent occupations with a wide range of characteristics which do not fit into one of the detailed O*NET-SOC occupations. O*NET data is not available for this type of title. For more detailed occupations under this title, see below.

This description of the 1,500+ DOT codes is simple -- it is a wastebasket for a group of codes that have little in common with each other and existing in insufficient numbers individually or in discernable groups to warrant a "real" SOC code of their own.  The O*NET makes the same statement about the 51-3099; it repeats the first two sentences quoted above.  By my count, there are 50 SOC groups that have that "all other" designation.

This takes us to the reason why vocational expert designate occupations within 51-9199 with impunity.  Their is no hard data to contradict anything that they say about the physical, mental, and skill requirements of the work.  Other O*NET codes have detailed information about the requirements of the occupational groups, but the 99's.  They are too disparate and dissimilar to have any published data. 

As presently constituted, 51-9199 contains 52 separate sedentary unskilled DOT codes and 390 light unskilled DOT codes.  Sedentary and light semi-skilled and skilled occupations make up another 440 DOT codes.  Over a third of the sedentary unskilled occupational base and almost a quarter of the light unskilled occupational base identified in the Appendix 2 regulations individually don't amount to a significant number of jobs.  If they did, they would be in their own SOC group,  Let's prove it. 

From the employment projections that form the foundation of the Occupational Outlook Handbook.  For 51-9199 EP, BLS reports

		2014
Industry
Sort Order	Code	Title	Employment	Percent of industry	Percent of occupation
1	TE1000	Total employment	236.2	0.2	100
27	31-330	Manufacturing	105	0.9	44.5

If the vocational expert identifies a manufacturing occupation, the number cannot exceed 105,000 jobs and then only if there are no other occupations with different skill or exertion levels. 

		2014
Industry
Sort Order	Code	Title	Employment	Percent of industry	Percent of occupation
63	326000	Plastics and rubber products manufacturing	5.7	0.8	2.4
64	326100	Plastics product manufacturing	4.3	0.8	1.8
65	326200	Rubber product manufacturing	1.3	1	0.6

The DOT reports three light unskilled and 10 other DOT codes in the plastic products industry that fall into 51-9199.  The DOT reports eight unskilled light and 43 other codes in the rubber products industry that fall into 51-9199. 

There are 20 DOT codes in the optical goods industry.  NAICS.com reports that industry designation 339115 covers ophthalmic goods manufacturing.  The closest we get to in the EP reports:

		2014
Industry
Sort Order	Code	Title	Employment	Percent of industry	Percent of occupation
123	339100	Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing	3.5	1.1	1.5

County Business Patterns reports industry employment:

339115

Ophthalmic Goods Manufacturing

24,910

Using the EP 1.1% of the industry represents 51-9199 jobs, we get 274 jobs ... in 20 different DOT codes.  That tells us that there are NOT thousands of lens inserters or final assemblers of optical goods.  The only other possibility is:

333314

Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing

15,003

And the EP says:

		2014
Industry
Sort Order	Code	Title	Employment	Percent of industry	Percent of occupation
93	333300	Commercial and service industry machinery manufacturing	0.6	0.7	0.3

600 jobs.  But don't be fooled -- none of the businesses in 333314 fit final assembler or lens inserters. 

There are 52 sedentary codes and 390 codes to walk through.  The EP and the CBP inform the process.  The EP are part and parcel of the OOH.  The CBP are separately noticed.  20 CFR 404.1566(d); 416.966(d). 

The proof starts with cross-examination.  Good luck. 

Furniture Rental Consultants part II

Last year, we addressed the furniture rental consultant.  More like last week.  Mr. Olinsky suggested that furniture rental stores are everywhere in the red states.  Let's look at the occupation-industry matrix from BLS, sorted by industry.  

The reports available for the retail trade sector:

				Retail trade, except motor vehicle and parts dealers, food and beverage stores, and general merchandise stores 4445R0 Summary 442000-4000, 446000-8000, 451000, 453000-4000 (XLSX) Furniture and home furnishings stores 442000 Summary 442000 (XLSX) Furniture stores 442100 Line item 442100 (XLSX) Home furnishings stores 442200 Line item 442200 (XLSX) Electronics and appliance stores 443000 Line item 443000 (XLSX) Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers 444000 Summary 444000 (XLSX) Building material and supplies dealers 444100 Line item 444100 (XLSX)
				When we look at furniture and home furnishing stores, BLS reports total employment of 454,600 jobs.  Not a small industry by any stretch.  Here is how BLS breaks down the employment of retail sales workers: 41-2000 Retail sales workers 230.1 41-2010 Cashiers 15.4 41-2011 Cashiers 15.4 41-2020 Counter and rental clerks and parts salespersons 0.6 41-2021 Counter and rental clerks 0.6 41-2031 Retail salespersons 214.0
				The retail salespersons (41-2031) make up the largest group of employees under the umbrella of retail sales workers (41-2000).  Retail salesperson includes:
				270.357-030    Salesperson, Furniture
				That is a semi-skilled occupation and largely irrelevant for disability purposes absent transferable skills.

The industry matrix gives the data by industry to permit looking at the allegation of widespread employment in the furniture rental industry.  Salespersons, whether selling or renting, is a semi-skilled position and represents almost half of total industry employment -- 454,600 jobs.  BLS again confirms that the unskilled occupation nestled inside of 41-2021 does not exist in significant numbers.

Counter Clerks -- DOT 249.366-010

Over the weekend, We discussed furniture rental consultants for the proposition that 34% require standing about half the time; that the SVP range is below; that the occupation is one of 24 in the O*NET classification of counter and rental clerks; and that the occupational group consists of 442,100 jobs in the national economy as of 2014. 

I know the next question.  What about counter clerk, photofinishing?  This occupation belongs to the same SOC group and the same comments, but a different industry. The DOT describes the occupation as occurring in the photofinishing industry.  That one is not listed in the excel spreadsheet that forms the Employment Projections from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, for  SOC group 41-2021.   So we have to use a different tool, the NAICS search.

NAICS stands for North American Industry Classification System.  We search by using the NAICS search.  Using photofinishing as the search term we get:


NAICS Title

	NAICS Code	Common Keywords
Photographic Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	423410	Photofinishing equipment merchant wholesalers
Photofinishing Laboratories (except One-Hour)	812921	Film developing and printing (except motion picture, one-hour)
One-Hour Photofinishing	812922	One-hour photofinishing services

Counter clerks would not work in merchant wholesale so commonsense eliminates NAICS code 423410, Photographic Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers.  That leaves the two photofinishing six-digit codes.  County Business Patterns provides industry employment data: 

	81292	Photofinishing	7,658	142,926	483,525	724
	812921	Photofinishing Laboratories (except One-Hour)	6,884	138,479	463,615	536
	812922	One-Hour Photofinishing	774	4,447	19,910	188

The five-digit code is the parent, the two six-digit codes are the children.  Photofinishing Laboratories (except One-Hour) plus One-Hour Photofinishing(6,884 + 774) comprise photofinishing (7,758).

Wait, wait, now just wait one darn minute.  County Business Patterns says that total industry employment -- not just counter clerks -- amounts to 7,658 jobs?  We don't get to make up the numbers but we do get to read.  Let's check the employment projections but we will have to go up in specificity of the NAICS code because these two are too small. 

812900

Other personal services

0.7

0.2

Counter clerks cannot make up more than 700 jobs on the employment projections in the four-digit code for NAICS code 812900 Other Personal Services.  They represent 0.2% of industry employment.  In the photofinishing industry, counter clerks make up 15 jobs (0.002 * 7,658 = 15.3). 

How many counter clerk jobs exist in the national economy?  Taking administrative notice of the OOH along with the employment projections and the CBP using the NAICS search tool results in a total of 15 jobs in the nation.  The occupation does not exist in significant numbers.