Lunch and Learn on SSA’s Dictionary of Occupational Titles
Check out our first National Academy of Social Insurance lunch-and-learn discussion to learn more about the DOT, which hasn’t been updated since 1991 (most occupations have not been updated since 1979), and efforts to replace it with the ORS.
This lunch and learn was conducted by a panel of experts:
- Jeanne Morin, President of Public Policy Advisors,
- Kevin Liebkeman, Division Chief at Legal Services of New Jersey
- David Weaver, former SSA executive and professor at the University of South Carolina
- Michelle Aliff, Vocational Expert.
SSA contracted with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2012 to collect new occupational data for use in the disability determination process. BLS developed the ORS in 2015 to collect and classify occupations. From this, SSA is developing a new Occupational Information System to provide information on the requirements of occupations in the national economy as well as describe how workers within occupations carry out critical tasks associated with job functions. SSA intends to create a new Vocational Information Tool (VIT) and issue new regulations before formally replacing the DOT with the OIS.
Our expert panel discusses the current state of play, including how the ORS differs from the DOT; what needs to be done before SSA can officially replace the DOT with the ORS; and what can be done in the meantime to assure that claimants’ ability to perform work in the national economy is based on jobs as they exist today.