WASHINGTON, D.C. – After nearly five years of delays and following years of scrutiny from Ways and Means Republicans, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has taken a first step towards the use of modern jobs data to improve the accuracy of its disability determinations.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement on the use of the new data:

“The Social Security Administration’s disability claims process is a complete and utter mess with close to two million Americans currently waiting for a decision on a disability claim or appeal. For years, Ways and Means Republicans have called on the Biden Administration to take commonsense steps to improve outcomes for deserving disability claimants, steps like using updated jobs data in its disability determination. For decades, Social Security has relied on outdated jobs data that disadvantages some who are truly disabled and advantages others who may be able to work because the old data includes job listings that no longer exist like ’pneumatic tube operator’ but does not include modern jobs like ‘web developer.’ Until this week, the Biden Administration continued to rely on these woefully outdated job listings despite having updated jobs data that Social Security spent more than a decade and $300 million to obtain. The fact that the agency has now taken initial steps to begin using this updated data at the hearing level is confirmation that the information is more accurate, useful, and should be used more readily throughout the disability claims process.”

Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Drew Ferguson (GA-03) issued the following statement:

“As Republicans, we’ve long pushed for accountability and common sense in the Social Security Administration’s disability process. It’s outrageous that, for decades, the SSA relied on data from the 1970s to determine disability claims, disadvantaging hardworking Americans and wasting taxpayer dollars. While this long-overdue step toward using updated jobs data is welcome, the Biden Administration’s years of delay are a disservice to millions of Americans waiting for fair decisions.”

A new ruling by the SSA makes it easier for vocational experts (VEs) to use updated occupational data when providing testimony at disability adjudication hearings. Prior to this change, VEs were required to identify and deconflict the evidence gathered during the evaluation process with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) – a time-consuming process that caused delays and dissuaded VEs from using the most accurate data available to them. Under the new policy, VEs are no longer required to deconflict the evidence they have gathered with the outdated DOT and can include information from the more modern Occupational Requirements Survey as evidence.

Additional Background:

• The Social Security Administration uses occupational listings in the Department of Labor’s Dictionary of Occupational Titles when determining if there are jobs in the national economy that a disability claimant could perform.
• The DOT was last substantively updated in the 1970s. As a result, some disability claimants can be improperly denied benefits because they can perform non-existent jobs included in the DOT (primarily low-skilled, manual jobs), or improperly granted benefits because modern jobs that they can perform (such as low-exertion, skills-based jobs) are not included in the DOT. 
• Since 2012, the SSA has partnered with DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to procure updated data and replace the DOT through the Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS). The BLS began collecting updated occupational data in 2016 and published its first wave of data in 2019.
• The SSA originally planned to begin using the BLS data in 2020, but the agency has since delayed implementation of the new data.
• To date, the SSA has spent more than $300 million to procure the BLS data and to update its systems to utilize the data. While it costs the SSA an additional $30-40 million a year to conduct the ORS, it costs nothing to use occupational data that has already been collected through the ORS.

READ: Five Key Moments from Social Security Subcommittee Hearing on the Disability Claims Backlog

READ: Key Moments from Ways and Means Hearing with Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley