(a) General. The Board will consider vocational factors when the claimant is applying for—

(1) An employee annuity based on disability for any regular employment; (See § 220.45(b))

(2) Widow(er) disability annuity; or

(3) Child's disability annuity based on disability before age 22.

(b) Disability determinations in which vocational factors must be considered along with medical evidence. When the Board cannot decide whether the claimant is disabled on medical evidence alone, the Board must use other evidence.

(1) The Board will use information from the claimant about his or her age, education, and work experience.

(2) The Board will consider the doctors' reports, and hospital records, as well as the claimant's own statements and other evidence to determine a claimant's residual functional capacity and how it affects the work the claimant can do. Sometimes, to do this, the Board will need to ask the claimant to have special examinations or tests. (See § 220.50.)

(3) If the Board finds that the claimant can no longer do the work he or she has done in the past, the Board will determine whether the claimant can do other work (jobs) which exist in significant numbers in the national economy.

(a) If the claimant can do his or her previous work (his or her usual work or other applicable past work), the Board will determine he or she is not disabled.

(b) If the residual functional capacity is not enough for the claimant to do any of his or her previous work, the Board must still decide if the claimant can do any other work. To determine whether the claimant can do other work, the Board will consider the claimant's residual functional capacity, and his or her age, education, and work experience. Any work (jobs) that the claimant can do must exist in significant numbers in the national economy (either in the region where he or she lives or in several regions of the country).

(a) Arduous work. Arduous work is primarily physical work requiring a high level of strength or endurance. The Board will consider the claimant unable to do lighter work and therefore, disabled if he or she has—

(1) A marginal education (see § 220.129);

(2) Work experience of 35 years or more during which he or she did arduous unskilled physical labor; and

(3) A severe impairment which no longer allows him or her to do arduous unskilled physical labor.

(b) Exceptions. The Board may consider the claimant not disabled if—

(1) The claimant is working or has worked despite his or her impairment(s) (except where work is sporadic or not medically advisable); or

(2) Evidence shows that the claimant has training or past work experience which enables him or her to do substantial gainful activity in another occupation with his or her impairment, either full-time or on reasonably regular part-time basis.

Example:B is a 60-year-old miner with a 4th grade education who has a life-long history of arduous physical labor. B says that he is disabled because of arthritis of the spine, hips, and knees, and other impairments. Medical evidence shows a combination of impairments and establishes that these impairments prevent B from performing his usual work or any other type of arduous physical labor. His vocational background does not show that he has skills or capabilities needed to do lighter work which would be readily transferable to another work setting. Under these circumstances, the Board will find that B is disabled.

(a) General. (1) Age refers to how old the claimaint is (chronological age) and the extent to which his or her age affects his or her ability to—

(i) Adapt to a new work situation; and

(ii) Do work in competition with others.

(2) In determining disability, the Board does not consider age alone. The Board must also consider the claimant's residual functional capacity, education, and work experience. If the claimant is unemployed because of his or her age and can still do a significant number of jobs which exist in the national economy, the Board will find that he or she is not disabled. Appendix 2 of this part explains in detail how the Board considers age as a vocational factor. However, the Board does not apply these age categories mechanically in a borderline situation.

(b) Younger person. If the claimant is under age 50, the Board generally does not consider that his or her age will seriously affect the ability to adapt to a new work situation. In some circumstances, the Board considers age 45 a handicap in adapting to a new work setting (see Rule 201.17 in appendix 2 of this part).

(c) Person approaching advanced age. If the claimant is closely approaching advanced age (50-54), the Board considers that the claimant's age, along with a severe impairment and limited work experience, may seriously affect the claimant's ability to adjust to a significant number of jobs in the national economy.

(d) Person of advanced age. The Board considers that advanced age (55 or over) is the point at which age significantly affects the claimant's ability to do substantial gainful activity.

(1) If the claimant is severly impaired and of advanced age, and he or she cannot do medium work (see § 220.132), the claimant may not be able to work unless he or she has skills that can be used in less demanding jobs which exist in significant numbers in the national economy.

(2) If the claimant is close to retirement age (60-64) and has a severe impairment, the Board will not consider him or her able to adjust to sedentary or light work unless the claimant has skills which are highly marketable.

(a) General. “Education” is primarily used to mean formal schooling or other training which contributes to the claimant's ability to meet vocational requirements, for example, reasoning ability, communication skills, and arithmetical ability. If the claimant does not have formal schooling, this does not necessarily mean that the claimant is uneducated or lacks these abilities. Past work experience and the kinds of responsibilities the claimant had when he or she was working may show that he or she has intellectual abilities, although the claimant may have little formal education. A claimant's daily activities, hobbies, or the results of testing may also show that the claimant has significant intellectual ability that can be used to work.

(b) How the Board evaluates the claimant's education. The importance of the claimant's educational background may depend upon how much time has passed between the completion of the claimant's formal education and the beginning of the claimant's physical or mental impairment(s) and what the claimant has done with his or her education in a work or other setting. Formal education completed many years before the claimant's impairment(s) began, or unused skills and knowledge that were a part of the claimant's formal education, may no longer be useful or meaningful in terms of ability to work. Therefore, the numerical grade level that the claimant completed in school may not represent his or her actual educational abilities. These educational abilities may be higher or lower than the numerical grade level that the claimant completed. However, if there is no other evidence to contradict it, the Board uses the claimant's numerical grade level to determine the claimant's educational abilities. The term “education” also includes how well the claimant is able to communicate in English since this ability is often acquired or improved by education. In evaluating the claimant's educational level, the Board uses the following categories:

(1) Illiteracy. Illiteracy means the inability to read or write. The Board will consider the claimant illiterate if he or she cannot read or write a simple message such as instructions or inventory lists even though the claimant can sign his or her name. Generally, the illiterate claimant has had little or no formal schooling.

(2) Marginal education. Marginal education means ability in reasoning, arithmetic, and language skills which are needed to do simple, unskilled types of jobs. Generally, this means a 6th grade or less level of education.

(3) Limited education. Limited education means ability in reasoning, arithmetic, and language skills, but not enough to allow a person with these educational qualifications to do most of the more complex duties needed in semi-skilled or skilled jobs. Generally, a limited education is a 7th grade through 11th grade level of education.

(4) High school education and above. High school and above means abilities in reasoning, arithmetic, and language skills acquired through formal schooling at a 12th grade level or above. The claimant with this level of education is generally considered able to do semi-skilled through skilled work.

(5) Inability to communicate in English. Since the ability to speak, read, and understand English is generally learned or increased at school, the Board may consider this an educational factor. Because English is the dominant language of the country, it may be difficult for the claimant who does not speak and understand English to do a job, regardless of the amount of education he or she may have in another language. The claimant's ability to speak, read and understand English will be considered when the Board evaluates what work, if any, he or she can do.

(6) Information about the claimant's education. The Board will ask the claimant how long he or she attended school and whether he or she can speak, understand, read and write in English, and do at least simple calculations in arithmetic. The Board will also consider information about how much formal or informal education the claimant received from his or her previous work, community projects, hobbies and any other activities which might help him or her to work.

(a) General. Work experience means skills and abilities the claimant has acquired through work he or she has done which show the type of work he or she may be expected to do. Work the claimant has already been able to do shows the kind of work that he or she may be expected to do. The Board considers that the claimant's work experience is relevant and applies when it was done within the last 15 years, lasted long enough for him or her to learn to do it, and was substantial gainful activity. This work experience is called “past relevant work.” The Board does not usually consider that work the claimant did 15 years or more before the time the Board is deciding whether he or she is disabled (or when the disability insured status requirement was last met, if earlier) applies. A gradual change occurs in most jobs so that after 15 years, it is no longer realistic to expect that skills and abilities acquired in a job done then continue to apply. The 15-year guide is intended to insure that remote work experience is not currently applied. If the claimant has no work experience or worked only “off-and-on” or for brief periods of time during the 15-year period, the Board generally considers that these do not apply. If the claimant has acquired skills through his or her past work, the Board considers the claimant to have these work skills unless he or she cannot use them in other skilled or semi-skilled work that he or she can do. If the claimant cannot use his or her skills in other skilled or semi-skilled work, the Board will consider his or her work background the same as unskilled. However, even if the claimant has no work experience, the Board may consider that the claimant is able to do unskilled work because it requires little or no judgment and can be learned in a short period of time.

(b) Information about the claimant's work. (1) Sometimes the Board will need information about the claimant's past work to make a disability determination. The Board may request work information from—

(i) The claimant; and

(ii) The claimant's employer or other person who knows about the claimant's work (member of family or co-worker) with the claimant's permission.

(2) The Board will ask for the following information about all the jobs the claimant has had in the last 15 years:

(i) The dates the claimant worked.

(ii) All the duties the claimant did.

(iii) Any tools, machinery, and equipment the claimant used.

(iv) The amount of walking, standing, sitting, lifting and carrying the claimant did during the work day, as well as any other physical and mental duties of the job.

(3) If all the claimant's work in the past 15 years has been arduous and unskilled, and the claimant has very little education, the Board will ask the claimant to tell about all of his or her work from the time he or she first began working. (See § 220.45(b).)

(a) General. The Board considers that work exists in the national economy when it exists in significant numbers either in the region where the claimant lives or in several other regions of the country. It does not matter whether—

(1) Work exits in the immediate area in which the claimant lives,

(2) A specific job vacancy exists for the claimant; or

(3) The claimant would be hired if the claimant applied for work.

(b) How the Board determines the existence of work. Work exists in the national economy when there are a significant number of jobs (in one or more occupations) having requirements which the claimant is able to meet with his or her physical or mental ability and vocational qualifications. Isolated jobs that exist in very limited numbers in relatively few locations outside the region where the claimant lives are not considered “work which exists in the national economy.” The Board will not deny the claimant a disability annuity on the basis of the existence of these kinds of jobs. The Board will determine that the claimant is disabled if the work he or she can do does not exist in the national economy. If the work the claimant can do does exist in the national economy, the Board will determine that the claimant is not disabled.

(c) Inability to obtain work. The Board will determine that the claimant is not disabled if he or she has the residual functional capacity and vocational abilities to do work which exists in the national economy but the claimant remains unemployed because of—

(1) His or her inability to get work;

(2) Lack of work in his or her local area;

(3) The hiring practices of employers;

(4) Technological changes in the industry in which the claimant has worked;

(5) Cyclical economic conditions;

(6) No job openings for the claimant;

(7) The claimant not actually being hired to do work he or she could otherwise do; or

(8) The claimant not wishing to do a particular type of work.

(d) Administrative notice of job data. The following sources are used when the Board determines that unskilled, sedentary, light and medium jobs exist in the national economy:

(1) Dictionary of Occupational Titles, published by the Department of Labor.

(2) County Business Patterns, published by the Bureau of the Census.

(3) Census Reports, also published by the Bureau of the Census.

(4) Occupational Analyses, prepared for the Social Security Administration by various State employment agencies.

(5) Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(e) Use of vocational experts and other specialists. If the issue in determining whether the claimant is disabled is whether his or her work skills can be used in other work and the specific occupations in which they can be used, or there is a similarly complex issue, the Board may use the services of a vocational expert or other specialist. The Board will decide whether to use a vocational expert or other specialist.

To determine the physical exertion requirements of work in the national economy, jobs are classified as “sedentary”, “light”, “medium”, “heavy”, and “very heavy.” These terms have the same meaning as they have in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, published by the Department of Labor. In making disability determinations the Board uses the following definitions:

(a) Sedentary work. Sedentary work involves lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like docket files, ledgers, and small tools. Although a sedentary job is defined as one which involves sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required occasionally and the other sedentary criteria are met.

(b) Light work. Light work involves lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 10 pounds. Even though the weight lifted may be very little, a job is in this category when it requires a good deal of walking or standing, or when it involves sitting most of the time with some pushing and pulling of arm or leg controls. To be considered capable of performing a full or wide range of light work, the claimant must have the ability to do substantially all of these activities. If the claimant can do light work, the Board determines that he or she can also do sedentary work, unless there are additional limiting factors such as loss of fine dexerity or inability to sit for long periods of time.

(c) 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 the claimant can do medium work, the Board determines that he or she can also do sedentary and light work.

(d) Heavy work. Heavy work involves lifting no more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 50 pounds. If the claimant can do heavy work, the Board determines that he or she can also do medium, light, and sedentary work.

(e) Very heavy work. Very heavy work involves lifting objects weighing more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing 50 pounds or more. If the claimant can do very heavy work, the Board determines that he or she can also do heavy, medium, light and sedentary work.

(a) General. To evaluate skills and to help determine the existence in the national economy of work the claimant is able to do, occupations are classified as unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled. In classifying these occupations, the Board uses materials published by the Department of Labor.

(b) Unskilled work. Unskilled work is work which needs little or no judgment to do simple duties that can be learned on the job in a short period of time (30 days). The job may or may not require considerable strength. A job is considered unskilled if the claimant can usually learn to do the job in 30 days, and little job training and judgment are needed. The claimant does not gain work skills by doing unskilled jobs. For example, jobs are considered unskilled if primary work duties are—

(1) Handling;

(2) Feeding;

(3) Offbearing (placing or removing materials from machines which are automatic or operated by others); or

(4) Machine tending.

(c) Semi-skilled work. Semi-skilled work is work which needs some skills but does not require doing the more complex work duties. A job may be classified as semi-skilled where coordination and dexterity are necessary, as when hand or feet must be moved quickly to do repetitive tasks. Semi-skilled jobs may require—

(1) Alertness and close attention to watching machine processes;

(2) Inspecting, testing, or otherwise looking for irregularities;

(3) Tending or guarding equipment, property, materials, or persons against loss, damage, or injury; or

(4) Other types of activities which are similarly less complex than skilled work but more complex than unskilled work.

(d) Skilled work. Skilled work requires qualifications in which a person uses judgment to determine the machine and manual operations to be performed in order to obtain the proper form, quality, or quantity of material to be produced. Skilled jobs may require—

(1) Laying out work;

(2) Estimating quality;

(3) Determining suitability and needed quantities of materials;

(4) Making precise measurements;

(5) Reading blueprints or other specifications;

(6) Making necessary computations or mechanical adjustments to control or regulate work; or

(7) Dealing with people, facts, figures or abstract ideas at a high level of complexity.

(e) Skills that can be used in other work (transferability)—(1) What the Board means by transferable skills. The Board considers the claimant to have skills that can be used in other jobs, when the skilled or semi-skilled work activities the claimant did in past work can be used to meet the requirements of skilled or semi-skilled work activities of other jobs or kinds of work. This depends largely on the similarity of occupationally significant work activities among different jobs.

(2) How the Board determines skills that can be transferred to other jobs. Transferability is most probable and meaningful among jobs in which—

(i) The same or a lesser degree of skill is required;

(ii) The same or similar tools and machines are used; and

(iii) The same or similar raw materials, products, processes, or services are involved.

(3) Degrees of transferability. There are degrees of transferability of skills ranging from very close similarities to remote and incidental similarities among jobs. A complete similarity of all three factors is not necessary for transferability. However, when skills are so specialized or have been acquired in such an isolated vocational setting (like many jobs in mining, agriculture, or fishing) that they are not readily usable in other industries, jobs, and work settings, they are considered not transferable.

(a) The Dictionary of Occupational Titles includes information about jobs (classified by their exertional and skill requirements) that exist in the national economy. Appendix 2 of this part provides rules using this data reflecting major functional and vocational patterns.

(b) The Board applies that rules in appendix 2 of this part in cases where a claimant is not doing substantial gainful activity and is prevented by a severe impairment(s) from doing vocationally relevant past work.

(c) The rules in appendix 2 of this part do not cover all possible variations of factors. The Board does not apply these rules if one of the findings of fact about the claimant's vocational factors and residual functional capacity is not the same as the corresponding criterion of a rule. In these instances, the Board gives full consideration to all relevant facts in accordance with the definitions and discussions under vocational considerations. However, if the findings of fact made about all factors are the same as the rule, the Board uses that rule to decide whether that claimant is disabled.

(a) General. The claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, may cause limitations of function or restrictions which limit the claimant's ability to meet certain demands of jobs. These limitations may be exertional, nonexertional, or a combination of both. Limitations are classified as exertional if they affect the claimant's ability to meet the strength demands of jobs. The classification of a limitation as exertional is related to the United States Department of Labor's classification of jobs by various exertional levels (sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy) in terms of the strength demands for sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling. Sections 220.132 and 220.134 of this part explain how the Board uses the classification of jobs by exertional levels (strength demands) which is contained in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles published by the Department of Labor, to determine the exertional requirements of work which exists in the national economy. Limitations or restrictions which affect the claimant's ability to meet the demands of jobs other than the strength demands, that is, demands other than sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling, are considered nonexertional. Sections 220.100(b)(5) and 220.180(h) of this part explain that if the claimant can no longer do the claimant's past relevant work because of a severe medically determinable impairment(s), the Board must determine whether the claimant's impairment(s), when considered along with the claimant's age, education, and work experience, prevents the claimant from doing any other work which exists in the national economy in order to decide whether the claimant is disabled or continues to be disabled. Paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section explain how the Board applies the medical-vocational guidelines in appendix 2 of this part in making this determination, depending on whether the limitations or restrictions imposed by the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, are exertional, nonexertional, or a combination of both.

(b) Exertional limitations. When the limitations and restrictions imposed by the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, affect only the claimant's ability to meet the strength demands of jobs (sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling), the Board considers that the claimant has only exertional limitations. When the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms only impose exertional limitations and the claimant's specific vocational profile is listed in a rule contained in appendix 2 of this part, the Board will directly apply that rule to decide whether the claimant is disabled.

(c) Nonexertional limitations. (1) When the limitations and restrictions imposed by the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, affect only the claimant's ability to meet the demands of jobs other than the strength demands, the Board considers that the claimant has only nonexertional limitations or restrictions. Some examples of nonexertional limitations or restrictions include the following:

(i) Difficulty functioning because the claimant is nervous, anxious, or depressed;

(ii) Difficulty maintaining attention or concentration;

(iii) Difficulty understanding or remembering detailed instructions;

(iv) Difficulty in seeing or hearing;

(v) Difficulty tolerating some physical feature(s) of certain work settings, e.g., the claimant cannot tolerate dust or fumes; or

(vi) Difficulty performing the manipulative or postural functions of some work such as reaching, handling, stooping, climbing, crawling, or crouching.

(2) If the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, only affect the claimant's ability to perform the nonexertional aspects of work-related activities, the rules in appendix 2 do not direct factual conclusions of disabled or not disabled. The determination as to whether disability exists will be based on the principles in the appropriate sections of the regulations, giving consideration to the rules for specific case situations in appendix 2 of this part.

(d) Combined exertional and nonexertional limitations. When the limitations and restrictions imposed by the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, affect the claimant's ability to meet both the strength and demands of jobs other than the strength demands, the Board considers that the claimant has a combination of exertional and nonexertional limitations or restrictions. If the claimant's impairment(s) and related symptoms, such as pain, affect the claimant's ability to meet both the strength and demands of jobs other than the strength demands, the Board will not directly apply the rules in appendix 2 unless there is a rule that directs a conclusion that the claimant is disabled based upon the claimant's strength limitations; otherwise the rules provide a framework to guide the Board's decision.

[68 FR 60294, Oct. 22, 2003]