Occupational Information System (OIS) Project

Objective

At the Social Security Administration (SSA), our disability claims policy and process require that we evaluate medical, and, in many cases, occupational information. We evaluate occupational information to determine whether a claimant can do their past work or adjust to other work in the national economy. The Department of Labor (DOL) developed our main source of occupational information, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), in 1938. However, DOL stopped updating the DOT in 1991. In order to continue to make accurate disability decisions, SSA must have information that reflects current occupations and their requirements. As a result, we are developing a new Occupational Information System, which will replace the DOT as the primary source of occupational information SSA staff use in our disability adjudication process.

Status

In July 2012, SSA entered into an interagency Agreement (IAA) with DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to test the feasibility of using their National Compensation Survey (NCS) to collect new occupational data for use in our disability adjudication process. BLS used the NCS infrastructure to develop the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS). Following three years of successful testing and improvements to the survey and methods, production data collection began in fiscal year (FY) 2015. BLS published the data from the initial three-year data collection wave (Wave 1) in FY 2019 and data from the subsequent five-year data collection wave (Wave 2) in FY 2024. BLS is currently collecting data for the first year of the third collection wave. The ORS data will be the OIS’ primary source of information on the work requirements of various occupations.

Initially, OIS development started with the goal of supporting current policy with minimal change. However, as we analyzed and learned more about the ORS data -- the primary source of data in the OIS -- SSA determined that larger changes to policy would be necessary. In order for disability adjudicators to use the new OIS in our program, we will need:

ORS Wave 2, five-year production data from BLS, published in February 2024
Completion of the Vocational Information Tool (VIT) -- the web-based information technology platform that will combine ORS data with data from other reliable sources of occupational information
New regulations and revised sub-regulatory guidance

In preparation for the ORS initial three-year data collection wave that began in FY 2015, SSA identified and worked closely with BLS to incorporate the job requirements most important to our disability adjudication process, such as physical requirements and necessary vocational preparation, into the survey. The ORS classifies occupations more broadly than the DOT. The DOT’s occupational classification system includes about 12,000 detailed occupations but is not used by any other Federal agencies. BLS uses the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system, which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandates federal statistical agencies use to facilitate sharing research and information across government, to classify the data. The SOC reflects the occupational structure of the U.S. economy and classifies all occupations in which work is performed for pay or profit. The 2010 O*NET SOC, which BLS used for the initial wave of ORS data, contains 974 occupations. The second wave of ORS data published in FY 2024 is based on the 2018 SOC, which contains 867 occupations.

During the first wave of data collection, BLS conducted research on the shelf life of occupational information that demonstrated that updating the data every five to ten years is adequate to capture shifts in job requirements. Based on this research, the agencies decided that BLS would collect Wave 2, which began in September 2018, on a five-year cycle. BLS also began using a new sample design that captures requirements for a broader range of occupations in the national economy.

The second wave of data collection includes new mental-cognitive questions that SSA has been developing since 2013. While the DOT contains discrete and well-established descriptions of the physical demands of occupations, it does not provide information on the mental and cognitive requirements. Our work with BLS allows us the unique opportunity to consider including descriptions of the mental and cognitive requirements of work in the new OIS. To ensure that BLS collects the mental and cognitive data elements that are most useful in disability adjudication, we organized an internal workgroup of disability vocational policy experts and contracted psychiatric and psychological consultants. With their help, we started with a long, all-inclusive list of job requirements and worked down to a manageable and collectible set.

BLS started testing the collection of these new mental-cognitive elements in 2014. Following testing, we responded to feedback from BLS field economists who collected the data and worked with BLS to revise the questions. BLS then tested the revised questions, which better define cognitive concepts, definitions, and thresholds. The revised mental-cognitive questions debuted in the second wave of data collection in 2018 and a subset of questions were further refined for the third wave of data collection, which began in late FY 2023.

The new OIS will be a collection of occupational data from multiple sources that will be housed, accessed, and operationalized through the VIT. Once completed, the OIS will provide updated occupational information measured and defined in a way that meets the following SSA program needs:

The OIS will broadly describe the requirements of occupations in the national economy; it will describe the ranges in how workers within occupations carry out critical tasks associated with their critical job functions.
The ORS data will be the OIS’ primary source of information on the work requirements of various occupations.
The OIS will also incorporate data from other reliable sources of occupational information.
We plan to expand beyond DOT information by including descriptions of the basic mental and cognitive requirements of work. We are analyzing these elements in the second wave of ORS data for usefulness in disability adjudication.

Summary of Key Activities by Fiscal Year:

FY 2012 and 2013

In July 2012, SSA entered into an interagency Agreement (IAA) with BLS to test the feasibility of using the NCS to collect new occupational data for use in our disability adjudication process.
We identified data elements that capture the physical demands and environmental conditions of work along with the necessary vocational preparation requirements. We also organized an internal workgroup of disability vocational policy experts and contracted psychiatric and psychological consultants to develop data elements that describe the mental and cognitive requirements of work, which is information not contained in the DOT.
BLS designed and conducted three phases of tests to assess the feasibility of using the NCS platform to collect the occupational data we need. The testing began with a small proof-of-concept collection in the Washington, DC Metro Area and expanded to a broader-scale collection across six cities.

FY 2014

BLS performed additional testing to refine protocols and methods and to ensure that they accurately and consistently capture the occupational data.
BLS also tested the collection of the new mental and cognitive requirements of work.

FY 2015

BLS conducted a nationwide pre-production test to evaluate all aspects of the survey in preparation for production data collection and released a limited amount of data to SSA. BLS also conducted further testing of the new mental and cognitive data elements and directly observed a select number of occupations to help determine the reliability and validity of the data collection methodology.
In September 2015, BLS began the first year of ORS nationwide production data collection.

FY 2016

BLS finished collecting the first year of occupational data, started collecting the second year of production data in May, and continued analysis of the pre-production test data to improve collection methods and ensure data quality.
BLS conducted research into the shelf life of occupational data to help us identify an appropriate update cycle that will keep our OIS current while maintaining cost efficiency.

FY 2017

On December 1, 2016, BLS published the first year of production data.
After extensive testing of the new mental and cognitive data elements, SSA collaborated with BLS to develop a revised set of questions to better define cognitive concepts, definitions, and thresholds we could use for adjudication. BLS tested the wide-scale collection of these revised questions in the third year of production data collection beginning in the fall of 2017. The testing was successful, and the new questions debuted in the second wave of data collection in FY 2018.

FY 2018

On November 29, 2017, BLS published the data from the second year of production data collection.
BLS completed the third year of production data and began collecting the first year of the second wave, which included the new questions regarding the mental and cognitive requirements of work.
BLS continued ongoing sample design research.
SSA used the first two years of data to inform decisions about updating the medical-vocational regulations.
SSA continued software development activities for the VIT platform.

FY 2019

BLS completed the first year and began the second year of production data collection as part of the second wave.
BLS published the data from the initial three-year data collection wave.
SSA continued software development activities for the VIT platform.
SSA continued analysis of the ORS data to determine regulatory and policy changes needed for implementation.

FY 2020

BLS completed the second year and began the third year of production data collection as part of the second wave.
BLS published the data from the initial year of the second wave, which included the revised mental and cognitive elements of occupations.

FY 2021

BLS completed the third year and began the fourth year of production data collection as part of the second wave.
In December 2020, BLS published the data from the second year of the second wave.

FY 2022

In November 2021, BLS published the data from the third year of the second wave.
BLS completed the fourth year and began the fifth, and final, year of production data collection for the second wave.
SSA and BLS collaborated on the sample design for the third wave of data collection.

FY 2023

In November 2022, BLS published the data from the fourth year of the second wave.
BLS completed the final year of production data collection for the second wave.
BLS received OMB clearance and began the third wave of data collection.

In February 2019, after the initial three years of data collection (Wave 1), BLS published data on 397 occupations collected from approximately 26,500 establishments and accounting for 90 percent of workers in the national economy. ORS survey methods cannot guarantee a publishable estimate for every occupation or occupational requirement due to a variety of factors including sample and BLS publication requirements.

In February 2024, after five years of data collection (Wave 2), BLS published data on 477 occupations from approximately 60,000 establishments.

Occupational Requirements Reliability and Validity Literature
BLS FY 2014 Test Summary

BLS FY 2013 Test Summaries:

Not applicable at this time.

For more information regarding the development of the OIS, see OIS Project FAQs and Fact Sheet. For more information about ORS see BLS: Occupational Requirements Survey. For additional inquiries, contact Social Security.