Work, Jobs, and Occupations A Critical Review of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (1980) / Chapter Skim
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4 USE OF THE DICTIONARY OF OCCUPATIONAL TITLES OUTSIDE THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
4 USE OF THE DICTIONARY OF OCCUPATIONAL TITLES OUTSIDE THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
Pages 45-92
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From page 45... ...
by interviews and site visits at organizations and agencies identified as institutional users of products of the Division of Occupational Analysis (OA) , these interviews being supplemented by a survey of persons identified as users of the DOT at the state level, and (3)
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From page 46... ...
A large portion of these were sold through bulk orders, either to GPO distribution centers or to college textbook centers. It is instructive to note that in the first 14-month period following the publication of the third edition DOT, 40,654 copies were sold; the comparable figure for the fourth edition was 100,198 copies.
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From page 47... ...
Despite these problems we regard our coverage of various types of users of the DOT as fully adequate for our purpose, which was to ascertain the major uses made of the document. Probability Survey of DOT Purchasers To create a sampling frame for the survey of DOT purchasers, a list of names and addresses of persons who bought the DOT and other occupational analysis products still in print during the year period July 1977 through June 1978 was obtained from GPO.
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48 o .o ~ · ~ O -~ Q _ o a, C a, -·\ 00 ~ Q.~ > or ~ ~ 0 a, C, O , _ _ .
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. In addition, detailed case studies of DOT use were conducted at the federal agencies that ordered large numbers of copies of the fourth edition DOT (see Figure 4-1~: the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training of the Employment and Training Administration, the Bureau of Disability Insurance of the Social Security Administration, and the Veterans Administration.
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From page 50... ...
On the basis of the pretest results, minor revisions were made, and the final printed version of the questionnaire was sent to the sample of DOT purchasers and the sock group on April 13, 1979. Mail follow-ups to those who had not responded were sent out on May 8 and June 5.
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From page 51... ...
As of August 15, 1979, 632 questionnaires had been returned, representing a 74-percent response rate for the DOT purchasers and an 84-percent response rate for the sock group.) INSTITUTIONAL USES OF THE DOT: A SAMPLE OF PURCHASERS The purchaser survey was designed to answer four basic questions: (1)
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From page 52... ...
The occupational identifications of DOT users are reflected in the professional associations to which the respon TABLE 4-2 Distribution of DOT Purchasers, by Type of Work (N = 307) a Type of Work Percentage Career or vocational counseling Rehabilitation counseling Vocational education Employment placement Management/compensation Projections/occupational information dissemination Librarianship Teaching/research Other work TOTAL 30 7 7 8 15 7 18 101 a Total N of 309, with two no answers.
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From page 53... ...
At the time of the survey, some organizations were still making use of the first two volumes of the third edition: more than 46 percent of the sample report that they had used either the first or second volume of the third edition DOT in the past year (third edition Volumes 1 and 2 include the definitions of titles, the occupational classification, industry index, and the worker trait information)
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54 o :^ o 3 Cal o U
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55 to o D o is, V os Am at 3 O o of a)
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are used by approximately one third of the respondents. As is true for the worker function scales, the worker trait data for specific occupations are heavily used by those assessing the transferability of skills.
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From page 58... ...
; The Guidance Information System: GIS Guide (Time Share Corporation, 1976~; occupational and career exploration kits (Science Research Associates, 1979~; Chronicle Occupational Library (Chronicle Guidance Publications, no date) ; and Worker Trait Group Guide (Appalachian Educational Laboratory, 1978~.
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From page 59... ...
of respondents indicated that career ladders should be incorporated into the DOT. In referring specifically to the fourth edition DOT a substantial proportion of respondents, although not a majority, indicated that they would prefer a hard cover (like that of the third edition)
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From page 61... ...
6l ~ ~- ~ O o ~or to To to To o ~o ~o ~ O ~t ~oo ~To of rid ~ c ~oo ~oo ~- ~ o ~ ~ o o ~o ~- - ~ ~oo c ~o ~ r ~_ ~r~ O ~[ ~r ~- i r~ a~ r~ ~ ~ ~D ~r ~oo O ~ oo t~ - O ~ ·3 D ~ 7 ~ C ~ ~ ~ C ~ < _ C O ~ O C~ _ O ·~ Ct O ~ oo _ ~ V, Ct ~ ~ 0= S a, ._ _ c: O O ~ ._ .O ~0 O ~ ~ _^ C~]
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From page 62... ...
information, which at the time of the survey was not yet available in the fourth edition. Few respondents see a need for the incorporation of the Standard Occupational Classification (sac)
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From page 63... ...
, is discussed. EMPLOYMENT TRAINING AND PRODUCTION OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION Within the area of employment training, major users of the DOT and other materials produced by the Division of Occupational Analysis are of two types: those concerned with the management and coordination of training programs and those concerned with producing labor market information related to planning and managing training efforts.
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64 o o ~_ a~ o _4 ._ ._ s~ ._ cn a C~ a)
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From page 65... ...
program use the DOT coding structure for their reporting, many apparently do assign DOT codes to both participants and job openings. In addition to using DOT titles and codes for record-keeping purposes, trainers rely on the DOT and other occupational analysis products as basic sources of occupational information both in planning actual training programs and in counseling clients about occupational opportunities.
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From page 66... ...
Finally, a major objective of the cars is to provide structured access to occupational information in order to assist individuals in matching personal characteristics with occupational characteristics. The cars information on occupational characteristics is based heavily on the worker trait and worker function information contained in the third edition DOT.
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From page 67... ...
and by definitions that are largely abbreviated DOT occupational descriptions. When the decision was originally made concerning occupations to be included in the survey, a determination of the skill level of various occupations was made on the basis of svP and GED estimates from the third edition DOT.
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From page 68... ...
Several years ago, for example, at the request of the BES Office of Occupational Safety and Health Statistics, the occupational analysis program staff identified more than 5,000 occupations meeting BES'S criteria of hazard. Interestingly, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
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From page 69... ...
Their testimony has been based almost exclusively on Volumes 1 and 2 of the third edition DOT as well as the third edition supplement. 3The fourth edition supplement is scheduled for publication in 1980.
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From page 70... ...
The use of the DOT in this context is to define the tasks entailed in each occupation or job so that a client can determine which jobs are well suited to his or her constellation of skills, abilities, and interests. In identifying appropriate alternative employment for servicedisabled veterans, counselors employ the physical and environmental attributes of occupations provided as part of the worker trait information in the third edition DOT.
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From page 71... ...
In assisting an individual to develop employment objectives the DOT iS relied on as an important counseling tool. As is the case in the VA rehabilitation program, VR counselors continue to use the third edition DOT while they await publication of fourth edition worker trait information.
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From page 72... ...
Guidance counselors in the vocational education field use a host of occupational information products. These include the Occupational Outlook Handbook of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a wide range of guidance materials issued by commercial publishers, and materials produced by trade and professional associations as well as the DOT, the Job Guide for Young Workers, and other products of the occupational analysis program.
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From page 73... ...
On the basis of this analytical background, instructional objectives are identified for use in actual curriculum development. At the stage of actually designing a vocational education instructional program the GED and svP estimates and other worker trait information of the DOT are apparently relied on heavily.
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From page 74... ...
The military has, however, occasionally used products of the occupational analysis program when concerned with the transferability between military and civilian occupations. For example, because of a statutory requirement to maintain up-to-date records on individuals who could possibly be mobilized, the various reserve personnel centers across the country maintain a data set on reservists.
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From page 75... ...
was prepared with the assistance of the Texas occupational analysis field center and released in January 1978 to coincide with the publication of the fourth edition DOT. For each military occupation the Source Book presents information on the military job title, the U.S.
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In this situation the soc must continue to rely on the contributions of other programs; the occupational analysis program is, in fact, the only comprehensive source of information available. Bureau of the Census The system used by the U.S.
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From page 77... ...
Seventy-four percent of the respondents reported that they had used the fourth edition DOT within the past year: 36 percent reported regular use and 38 percent reported occasional use. On the survey date, some of the respondents were still making use of the third edition DOT; 62 percent reported at least occasional use of the third edition during the past year.
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78 o so V o VO :^ o o a' o o as o o ._ ID ._ ._ on C~ 4_ C~ C~ L~ m o LL1 o :^ Ct o U
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Although a majority of respondents view the DOT as being adequate, there were suggestions as to how the fourth edition DOT could be improved. In particular, 54 percent indicated that career ladders should be incorporated into the next edition of the DOT.
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From page 81... ...
There is strong reason to suspect that the third edition worker function scales undervalue jobs held mainly by women and that this bias was corrected in the fourth edition (see chapter 7~. Hence substantive findings in this area based on the third edition should be treated with great caution.
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From page 82... ...
used the titles in a study of the validity of the Kuder Occupational Interest Inventory. WORKER TRAITS AND WORKER FUNCTIONS The worker trait data and worker function scales have received by far more attention in the research community than any other part of the DOT.
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(1978) compared the job tasks and skills of social policy planners, coded according to the worker functions, with training received in professional schools and found serious discrepancies.
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Other Worker Traits The other worker traits have appeared in the literature most often in descriptions of labor force composition and as variables in economists' wage equations. Using DOt temperament 3 (supervision)
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From page 85... ...
incorporates all occupations listed in the third edition DOT in a structure derived from analyses of the worker traits and worker functions (Prediger, 1976~. Holland's six-category occupational classification, based on a theory of personality types, has often been subdivided on the basis of GED level (G.
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From page 86... ...
Miller (1971a) describes work coding the April 1971 Current Population Survey with 1970 Census codes and third edition DOT codes (the actual coding was done by occupational analysis field center personnel)
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The Job Search Branch of the Division of Occupational Analysis is also responsible for distributing brochures, news releases, and other labor market information directly to occupational information consumers (primarily local Employment Service offices)
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OCCUPATIONAL ANALYSIS BRANCH The Occupational Analysis Branch of the Division of Occupational Analysis publishes a series of career-related brochures and pamphlets. These products range from in-house publications, such as the Handbook for Analyzing Jobs, to career brochures, such as Career Opportunities in the Telephone and Telegraph Industries, Occupations in Library Science, and Career Opportunities in the Trucking Industry.
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From page 89... ...
The field center distributes these publications free to anyone who requests a small number, most notably school vocational counselors or other personnel involved with career guidance. JOB SEARCH BRANCH The Job Search Branch within the Division of Occupational Analysis distributes labor market information in a variety of forms.
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From page 90... ...
(186) a Users of other occupational analysis products are defined as those reporting frequent or occasional use of publication in the past year.
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From page 91... ...
Although certain parts of the DOT are used more than others, there is an identifiable subset of organizations using every major DOT component. A total of 88 percent of the DOT purchasers, especially those in rehabilitation counseling, vocational education, labor force projections, and occupational information dissemination and educators in the counseling field, reported that discontinuing the DOT would adversely affect their work; 36 percent reported that the impact would be large or that discontinuance would seriously disrupt their work.
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From page 92... ...
The DOT code is frequently used to describe the socioeconomic distribution of subject samples and to match experimental groups with control groups on occupational class and skill level. The worker traits and worker functions have been used in many capacities, most notably in describing the distribution of job characteristics across various sectors of the labor force and in examining shifts in labor force composition.
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