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OCR for page 250
Site Visits to Selected
B Federal Users of the
Dictionary of
Occupational Titles
PATRICIA A. ROOS
The staff conducted site visits to three federal users of the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles. The agencies chosen for detailed analysis were
selected because they "rode the requisition" for the DOT, that is, they
purchased the DOT in large quantities supplementary to the Employment
Service's purchase order. These agencies are the Bureau of Apprenticeship
and Training of the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Disability
Insurance of the Social Security Administration, and the Veterans
Administration. The Department of the Navy purchased multiple copies
(1,250) of the DOT; however, since these copies went directly into storage,
the committee staff felt that a visit to the Department of the Navy would
not be a fruitful one.
BUREAU OF APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING
In the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT) the primary user and
the office originating an order for 1,000 copies of the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles is the Division of Review and Registration (DRR). The
staff of the national office of BAT oversees the registration of apprenticeship
programs, a procedure that involves an evaluation of whether the
occupation to be apprenticed meets the criteria of eligibility (apprenticea-
bility) required by BAT. From the national office, copies of the DOT were
distributed to BAT representatives at the 10 regional offices and all the field
offices. A copy of the DOT was also given to each of the 32 state
apprenticeship councils, which coordinate their work with BAT as well as
250
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Site Visits to Selected Federal Users
251
to some of the larger program sponsors of apprenticeship programs. There
are currently 543 apprenticeable occupations recognized by the Bureau of
Apprenticeship and Training. The number of people being trained for
these occupations has risen from 26,137 in 1941 to 262,586 in 1977. The
DOT iS a primary source book in the evaluation of a proposed apprentice-
ship program-no program can be registered with BAT if the correspond-
ing occupation does not have a DOT code.
The Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training was established as the
primary agency within the Department of Labor responsible for ensuring
compliance with, and carrying out the objectives of, the National
Apprenticeship Law of 1937. Though the bureau is not involved in the
training itself, it works closely with employers, unions, state apprentice-
ship agencies, and vocational schools to set up and monitor apprenticeship
programs across the country. Responding to proposals for apprenticeship
programs initiated at the local level, the Division of Review and
Registration determines whether the occupation to be-apprenticed meets
BAT criteria and the program meets BAT standards; if so, DRR registers the
program with BAT. Although registration of apprenticeship programs with
BAT iS not required, there are advantages to both employers and employees
of such registration. For employers, BAT serves a training and consulting
role, at no charge, advising them of the various rules and regulations (e.g.,
equal employment opportunity regulations) affecting their apprenticeship
programs. In addition to its advisory role, BAT also benefits employers by
ensuring quality education for apprentices and reducing costly job
hopping. For employees, BAT ensures that upon completion of the
program, participants will receive journeyman status and wages. The BAT
also monitors compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act, which stipulates that
in order to pay less than journeyman wages, employers must register their
apprenticeship program with either BAT or a state apprenticeship agency
recognized by BAT; apprentices are thus guaranteed wage protection. The
bureau views its role as one of opening the door for employers and
employees to work together for mutual benefit.
USING THE DOT TO EVALUATE THE APPRENTICEABILITY OF
OCCUPATIONS
In order to be considered "apprenticeable," occupations must meet certain
criteria developed by BAT, the most important of which is that the
occupation be a skilled trade (no professional occupations are appren-
ticed). Another criterion, the one for which the DOT iS most frequently
used, is that the occupation be one that involves manual, mechanical, or
technical skills and knowledge requiring a minimum of 2,000 hours (about
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252
WORK, JOBS, AND OCCUPATIONS
1 year) of on-thejob work experience. Similarly, in order for an
apprenticeship program to be registered with BAT, it must include the
provision that apprentices receive at least 2,000 hours of on-thejob
. .
training.
The initial review concerning the apprenticeability of an occupation
begins at the field level, when a potential program sponsor contacts a BAT
representative in order to have an apprenticeship program registered. At
this point a nine-digit DOT code is assigned to the occupation to be
apprenticed. If no such code exists, the national BAT office requests the
Division of Occupational Analysis to undertake a complete job analysis
study to create one.
Once a nine-digit DOT code is assigned to an occupation to be
apprenticed, the DOT is used primarily in verifying that the number of
hours of on-thejob training (or term) specified by the program sponsor (in
the description of the work process to be completed by the apprentice)
matches the specific vocational preparation (svP) estimate associated with
the corresponding journeyman occupation. As mentioned above, an
apprenticeship program must require a minimum of 2,000 hours of on-the-
job training in order to be registered with BAT. The BAT staff with whom I
spoke use the following equivalence between the required term of the
apprenticeship program and the svP estimates in order to verify the length
of training time estimated by program sponsors:
Term
svP Code (and Definitions)
1 year
2 years
3 - years
4 years
not applicable
5 (6 months to 1 year)
6 (1-2 years)
7 (over 2 - years)
8 (over ~10 years)
9 (over 10 years)
As an example, let us suppose that a program sponsor submitted a work
process description for an apprentice Wool-and-Pelt Grader and noted
that the apprenticeship tenure should be 2 years. The svP code associated
with the journeyman occupation corresponding to an apprentice Wool-
and-Pelt Grader is 4, which suggests that the vocational training required
is less than 6 months. The BAT staff would thus note that the term specified
by the employer did not correspond to the svP estimate of training time,
and since the latter was lower than the required 2,000 hours, the program
would not be registered. Since the 2,000-hour rule is also one of the criteria
used to determine the apprenticeability of an occupation, a similar
matching process takes place in that evaluation. When the term and svP
estimates do not match, there can be two explanations: either the employer
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Site Visits to Selected Federal Users
253
overestimated the amount of training needed, or the svP estimate was
miscoded. If the latter is believed to be the case, BAT could recommend
that the occupation go back for additional job analysis.
The svP specification is thus used to make distinctions among
occupations in the amount of training time required to reach journeyman
status; those occupations not requiring at least 2,000 hours of on-thejob
training are not registered by BAT (2,000 hours is equivalent to an svP
level of 5 or above). The svP estimates used by the bureau are taken from
an interim report prepared in February 1978 by the Division of
Occupational Analysis (U.S. Department of Labor, 1978b). It will be
superseded by the as-yet-unpublished supplement to the fourth edition
DOT, "Selected Characteristics of Occupations," which is being financed
by the Social Security Administration and includes the entire range of
worker traits.
The worker function codes for DATA, PEOPLE, and THINGS are also used
by BAT to provide an indication of the skill level of a job-that is, the
higher the code, the lower the skill level required. The general education
development (GED) scale is also occasionally used to compare the entrance
requirements of occupations with the description of the job as provided in
the work process report. The DOT definitions themselves are occasionally
used to evaluate the adequacy of the work process descriptions provided
by the program sponsors. In addition to these specific uses, the DOT codes
are used in the State and National Apprenticeship Reporting System
(SNAPS), a statistical reporting system that provides a breakdown of the
distribution of participants in apprenticeship programs by race, ethnicity,
veteran status, and sex.
Other than the DOT, BAT uses two other specially prepared reports of
the occupational analysis program. One is the interim report mentioned
above, and the other is a frequently used three-volume computer printout
that provides a conversion from third edition to fourth edition DOT codes;
the printout also lists deletions made between the two editions. A third
frequently used source book for occupational information is the Occupa-
tional Outlook Handbook.
ADEQUACY OF THE DOT
The stab at BAT view the DOT as being crucial to their work. The DOT code
itself, the job definitions, and especially the svP codes are used regularly in
evaluating the apprenticeability of occupations and registering apprentice-
ship programs. Those with whom we spoke made detailed suggestions for
improving the fourth edition DOT (e.g., the DOT should be hardbound and
in a loose-leaf format).
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WORK, JOBS, AND OCCUPATIONS
On a more substantive level, BAT staff would like to see the apprentice-
ship codes in the fourth edition removed. Since they view apprenticeships
as only temporary, BAT staff always use the journeyman code that
represents the occupational objective of the apprentice. To include a DOT
code for apprentices suggests that permanent apprenticeship occupations
exist, a practice that goes against the spirit of apprenticing occupations. It
was noted that some of the apprenticeship codes in the fourth edition DOT
do not even have a corresponding journeyman code (e.g., 863.364-010,
Insulation Worker Apprentice (construction)~.
Another problem for BAT with the fourth edition DOT iS that some
occupations recognized as apprenticeable by BAT were consolidated and
not given separate entries in the DOT (and thus not recognized as separate
occupations). Further coordination between BAT and the occupational
analysis program was suggested in order to correct this problem. Finally,
BAT staff would like to see apprenticed occupations noted in some way in
the next edition of the DOT; for example, occupations recognized as
apprenticeable by BAT could be set in boldface type for easier accessibility
by training representatives.
BUREAU OF DISABILITY INSURANCE
A request for 2,240 copies of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles
originated from the Medical and Vocational Methods Branch of the
Bureau of Disability Insurance (BDI), an agency in the Social Security
Administration (SSA). The Medical and Vocational Methods Branch is
concerned with the formulation and dissemination of policy concerning
the medical definition of disability. From BDI, copies of the DOT were
distributed to the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals (the appellate level)
and to the 10 regional offices for distribution to state disability agencies.
Eligibility for benefits under Title 2 of the social security legislation
depends on establishing that a person's disabilities are debilitating in the
sense that they keep him or her from being employed in the same or
"similar" work that he or she has performed in the past. The legislation's
definition of disability mandates that a person's ability to perform
alternative work be evaluated before disability benefits are awarded.
According to BD! personnel the DOT has become the primary source
document used in this evaluation. At the time of the site visit, SSA
personnel were not employing the fourth edition DOT, since the relevant
supplement, Selected Characteristics of Occupations (Physical Demands,
Working Conditions, Training Tim esJ, for which the Social Security
Administration contributed $50,000, was not yet published. (A similar
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Site Visits to Selected Federal Users
255
supplement had been prepared for the third edition (U.S. Department of
Labor, 19664.)
The determination of whether disability allowances should be awarded
may be made solely on the basis of a medical assessment of disability.
However, if examiners cannot adjudicate on the basis of medical evidence
alone, they use the DOT to make an assessment of what functions the
individual is able to perform, that is, they make a determination of his or
her "residual functional capacity." This assessment involves the develop-
ment of a vocational profile based on an evaluation of the physical exertion
and skill levels of past employment. This profile can then be matched
against recommended alternative employment to determine whether, with
a given disability, an individual is capable of performing "substantial
gainful employment." If not, disability benefits are allowed.
USING THE DOT TO DETERMINE DISABILITY AWARDS
The processing of disability claims begins at the local social security office
when an individual comes in to file for disability benefits. A claims
representative interviews the client and writes up a description of the
client's disability and work experience for the past 15 years. The claim is
then transmitted to the Disability Determination Section (DDS) of the
state's vocational rehabilitation agency, where an adjudicator assembles
the relevant medical and vocational evidence. On the basis of this evidence
the adjudicator determines whether the individual should be awarded
benefits on the basis of medical evidence alone or whether alternative
employment exists in which the individual could find work. The primary
role of the vocational specialists at the Medical and Vocational Methods
Branch (national office) is in mediating disability disputes between the
local district offices and the state DDS. The role of mediator usually
involves interpreting the Social Security Administration's rules and
regulations as they relate to recommending jobs for the disabled claimant.
Disputes usually involve an evaluation of the transferability of the
claimant's skills to recommended other employment.
The DOT iS used primarily for making an assessment of the kind of
employment the claimant can perform, given the disability incurred and
his or her past employment. The underlying principle employed in the
evaluation process is that if the physical, mental, and skill levels of the
disabled individual match the physical, mental, and skill demands of his or
her previous employment, disability benefits are not allowed. If the
individual cannot perform his or her past employment, a determination is
then made as to whether there exist other jobs in the national economy
(without regard to whether such jobs are locally available) that the
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256
WORK, JOBS, AND OCCUPATIONS
disabled person could perform (e.g., work similar to previous employment
but perhaps requiring less exertion).
Various volumes and supplements of the DOT are used in assessing the
physical, mental, and skill levels of previous work experience and potential
employment. In determining whether skills are transferable between past
and alternative employment (i.e., whether recommended jobs are appropri-
ate), vocational specialists occasionally use the following questions as
general guidelines:
1. Are jobs at the same or a lower skill level? (Jobs at higher skill levels
are not recommended.)
2. Do new jobs involve the same or similar tools?
3. Do recommended jobs involve similar processing and products?
These guidelines are merely suggestive, since "appropriate" employment
does not necessarily have to be similar to previous employment on all three
factors.
This determination of the transferability of skills between past and
potential employment is made by referring to Supplement One of the third
edition DOT, Selected Characteristics of Occupations, since the relevant
fourth edition supplement has not yet been published. This volume
contains information on worker trait groups, industry, physical demands,
working conditions, and the GED and svP training time specifications, all
of which are employed to develop a vocational profile of the claimant. In
order to ensure that recommended jobs are not at a higher skill and
function level than previous employment, the analyst uses the worker
function specifications of DATA, PEOPLE, and THINGS. It is assumed that
the higher the worker function score, the lower the skill level of the
occupation. For example, if the person's previous employment had a
worker function score of 884, the analyst would seek other "884" jobs that
are similar in other ways (such as being in the same industry) either by
referring to the DOT classification in Supplement One to find other jobs
clustered near the original occupation or by referring to the worker trait
groups (in which jobs with the same worker traits are arranged together),
provided in Volume 2 of the third edition DOT. Jobs that are likely
possibilities are then checked by referring to the job definitions and job
characteristics. In order to be considered appropriate alternative work,
recommended jobs must not have DATA, PEOPLE, and THINGS codes lower
(skill level higher) than the codes of the claimant's past work experience.
A similar sort of comparison process is carried out with the GED and
svP specifications, which are taken to represent another part of the
claimant's job profile. In order to be considered appropriate, recommended
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Site Visits to Selected Federal Users
257
jobs must be at the same or similar levels of GED and svP, which are also
loosely taken as measures of the skill level of the job. Although the
analysts do not translate GED codes into years of schooling, a general rule
of thumb is to call jobs in levels 1 and 2 "unskilled" and to call jobs in
levels 3 and above "skilled."
The third component of the composite job profile takes into consider-
ation the physical demands and the working conditions of the job. The
physical demands assessed are the amount of strength (whether the job is
sedentary or whether it requires light, medium, heavy, or very heavy
lifting), the need to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, reach,
handle, finger, feel, talk, hear, and see. The working conditions defined by
the DOT include whether the job is typically performed indoors, outdoors,
or both and whether it involves extremes of heat or cold, wetness,
humidity, noise, vibration, hazards, fumes, odors, toxic conditions, dust,
or poor ventilation. These characteristics of recommended jobs can be
compared with the job profiles developed for the claimant's previous
employment in order to find matches at lower levels of exertion that the
individual can potentially perform, given his or her disabilities. The
principle involved in the comparison includes determining whether, given
the particular physical and/or mental impairment, the individual can do
the job.
ADEQUACY OF THE DOT
The BD] personnel interviewed felt that there were no other occupational
source books that came close to providing the information currently
existing in the DOT. They felt that if the DOT were to be discontinued, their
judgments regarding the determination of disability would be more
speculative and unrealistic: adjudicators would have to make decisions
solely on the basis of medical evidence without giving appropriate weight
to the vocational background of the claimant. Only one minor complaint
was offered about the DOT product itself: analysts occasionally question
the function or skill level assigned to a particular occupation. Because
problems come up so rarely, there is no formal mechanism set up to
apprise the Division of Occupational Analysis so that revisions can be
incorporated into future editions of the DOT. The analysts provided two
examples of what they consider to be underestimates of the physical
exertion required on the job: the job of Nurse's Aide was rated as requiring
only light lifting, while BD! staff believe that it should have a rating of
"medium"; the job of Motorman in a mine was also rated as requiring only
light lifting, while BD] staff felt it should have a rating of "medium."
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258
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
WORK, JOBS, AND OCCUPATIONS
The Veterans Administration (VA) ordered 520 copies of the fourth edition
Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The office initiating this request was the
Counseling and Rehabilitation Section of the Division of Education and
Rehabilitation Service. From this office the dictionaries were distributed to
58 regional offices. The VA site visit was conducted at the Washington,
D.C., regional office of the Counseling and Rehabilitation Section (C&R) SO
as to gain awareness of how the DOT iS used in the field offices. During
fiscal 1977 the D.C. regional once provided readjustment benefits to
20,439 people and awarded $11,542,358 in monetary benefits. During fiscal
1978, approximately 2,400 veterans received counseling through this office;
the majority of these people are disabled veterans who are required to
undergo rehabilitation counseling in order to file for benefits.
The Veterans Administration is responsible for carrying out the
provisions of Title 38 of the U.S. Code Veterans Benefits. The C&R
oversees the implementation of four chapters of Title 38:
1. Chapter 34, the GI Bill, offers educational assistance to veterans who
entered the military prior to January 1, 1977.
2. Chapter 32 provides similar assistance for those veterans who entered
the military on or following January 1, 1977.
3. Chapter 35, the Dependents Program, offers educational assistance to
war orphans or dependents of permanently disabled veterans.
4. Chapter 31, the Disabled or Vocational Rehabilitation Program,
provides rehabilitative counseling and vocational training and makes
recommendations for the payment of benefits to service-disabled veterans.
The D.C. regional office serves an idiosyncratic clientele because of its
location. Many of the clients receiving counseling or benefits through this
office are eventually employed in government jobs. Another feature of the
D.C. clientele is that it is highly educated or, more specifically, in the
process of becoming highly educated. Of the 635 veterans currently
receiving educational assistance through the D.C. office, approximately
500 are in college programs, most of which are 4-year programs.
USING THE DOT IN COUNSELING AND REHABILITATION
Veterans who use the services of the Counseling and Rehabilitation
Section may do so by choice or because their attendance is mandatory.
Disabled veterans must undergo counseling if they wish to take advantage
of the veterans' assistance benefits under Title 38; other veterans are not
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Site Visits to Selected Federal Users
259
required to undergo counseling but may choose to do so. Once a veteran is
adjudged eligible for counseling and/or rehabilitation services, he or she is
given an appointment with a counseling psychologist (cP). Although one
of the services of the cP's is personal psychological counseling, they use the
DOT primarily in their role as occupational or vocational counselors in
exploring the client's vocational plans and developing occupational
objectives. Once the client and the counselor agree on an occupational
objective, the six-digit third edition DOT code (the VA plans to switch to
the nine-digit fourth edition code shortly) is assigned to identify that
objective. In addition to using the DOT code to identify the occupational
objective, the counselors use the DOT for occupational exploration. They
use the DOT in this context to define tasks within each occupation or job so
that the client can determine which jobs are well suited to his or her
constellation of skills and/or interests.
Following the interview with the counseling psychologist, disabled
veterans (or dependents who are themselves disabled) meet with vocational
rehabilitation specialists (VRS) who supervise their retraining. The VRS'S,
in consultation with the client, make recommendations regarding the
particular rehabilitative training that the client should undergo and the
benefits that should be paid. In this context the VRS also uses the six-digit
DOT code identified previously to define the agreed-on occupational
objective. In the role of rehabilitative specialist the VRS uses the DOT job
definitions to determine whether the client can perform the various tasks
involved in such employment. In this context the VRS often checks on the
physical and environmental attributes of the occupation, as provided in the
third edition DOT, to verify the suitability of the employment for the
particular client.
The fourth edition DOT job definitions are used in a variety of ways by
the counselors. Counselors remarked that they often encourage their
clients to read through various job definitions to get an idea of the tasks
involved in particular occupations in order to determine which are most
suitable for them, given their interests and skills. One counselor remarked
that she had clients read through the task descriptions in order to help
them prepare resumes for job interviews by reminding them what tasks
were involved in their previous occupations. The job definitions are also
used when disagreements arise between the veteran and the professional
staff regarding "suitable employment." If a veteran disagrees with the
assessment of the counselor, the case can go before the Board of Veterans
Appeals. In such a situation the counselor prepares a statement of the case,
citing relevant laws and regulations. In this context he or she often
references the DOT to document the case by describing the tasks inherent
in a particular occupational category.
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260
WORK, JOBS, AND OCCUPATIONS
None of the staff with whom we spoke used the military occupation
codes or definitions, which were added to the fourth edition DOT. Since
they are interested only in the transferability of military skills to civilian
occupations, they found no use for codes that refer to military-specific
occupations. In fact, they used the military occupational specialty (MOS)
itself only when it involved skills that were directly transferable to desired
civilian occupations.
The counselors do not make use of either the GED and svP estimates or
the supplement to the third edition DOT funded by the Social Security
Administration, Selected Characteristics of Occupations (Physical De-
mands, Working Conditions, Training Times). They did, however, mention
that they used the physical and environmental attributes of occupations,
provided in the worker trait section of the third edition DOT. Their use of
these attributes is not exploratory, in the sense of searching out
occupations particularly suited to people with specific handicaps. Counsel-
ors use them instead as a validation mechanism to ascertain whether a
client will be able to perform a particular occupation, given his or her
service-related disabilities.
Counselors also use the worker function data from the DOT in
conjunction with other occupational exploration material such as the
Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory and Holland's Self-Directed Search.
Once an occupation or set of occupations has been targeted via the self-
directed search method, the client has specific DOT titles and codes with
which to work. From this point the counselor can work backward, using
the relationship to data, people, and things codes to verify that the
occupations are appropriate given the client's interests, skills, and self-
descriptions. For example, if a person is interested in working with people
and the results from the psychological testing confirm this, the counselor
uses the PEOPLE code (the fifth digit of the DOT code) to verify that the
occupational objectives they are discussing indeed involve significant
interaction with people.
ADEQUACY OF THE DOT
On the whole the counselors view the existence of the DOT as crucial to
their work. The DOT code itself is basic to maintaining statistical records
on occupational objectives of veterans. The job definitions, with their
detailed description of the constituent tasks involved in particular
occupations, assist the counselors in developing educational and occupa-
tional objectives with their clients. However, the C&R staff did have some
detailed suggestions for improving the fourth edition DOT.
The first suggestion has to do with the physical packaging of the
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261
product. The fourth edition, they believe, is too unwieldy to use efficiently,
owing to its bulk and its soft cover. Their recommendation is that it be
produced as two hard-covered volumes. In addition, one counselor
mentioned that the alphabetical listing is too difficult to use, since it is
buried in the middle of the book.
Another common criticism is that important titles are still missing,
especially titles specific to the government sector. The particular titles
mentioned were intake worker, accounting technician, accounting clerk,
and various paraprofessional occupations. The counselors recommended
that all civil service occupations be incorporated directly into the DOT.
It was also noted that many occupations are not easy to find in the DOT
because of the high degree of cross-referencing. Finally, the staff expressed
a desire for more training on the use of the worker function data of the
DOT, since many of them were uncomfortable with the actual use of the
DATA, PEOPLE, and THINGS codes. They felt that they understood the
concept but lacked any real ability to apply that knowledge to vocational
planning in other than a very primitive way.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
fourth edition
