Occupational Information System (OIS) Project

The Need for Occupational Information

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

Our Vision for the New OIS

Our new OIS is a collection of occupational data from multiple sources that will be housed, accessed, and operationalized through an online platform called the Vocational Information Tool (VIT). Once completed, the new 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 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) data will be the OIS’ primary source of information on the requirements of work.
  • The OIS will also incorporate data from other reliable sources of occupational information.
  • We expect to update OIS data every five years.
  • We plan to expand beyond DOT information by including descriptions of the basic mental and cognitive requirements of work. The earliest we would anticipate including information about the mental and cognitive demands of work is in the second release of the OIS in 2024. We are analyzing these elements for usefulness in disability adjudication.

The Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS)

In July 2012, we entered into an interagency Agreement (IAA) with the 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 ORS. Following three years of successful testing and improvements to the survey and methods, BLS began production data collection in 2015.

  • SSA identified the job requirements most important to our disability adjudication process, such as strength and other physical requirements and necessary vocational preparation requirements, and worked closely with BLS to incorporate these requirements into ORS. However, the ORS classifies occupations more broadly than the DOT. The DOT created its own taxonomy that includes about 12,000 detailed occupations. No other Federal agencies use the DOT’s taxonomy.
  • BLS is using the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system to classify the data. The SOC is the OMB-mandated classification system for Federal statistical agencies, and its use will facilitate sharing research and information among federal agencies. The SOC reflects the occupational structure of the US economy and classifies all occupations in which work is performed for pay or profit. The 2010 O*NET SOC, which BLS used for the first set of ORS data, contains 974 occupations. The second set of ORS data will be based on the 2018 SOC, which contains 867 occupations.
  • As a result, the ORS will classify occupations at a more aggregated level than in the DOT.

After 3 years of data collection, BLS published data on 397 SOCs in February 2019 collected from approximately 26,500 establishments and accounting for 90 percent of workers in the economy. BLS was not able to capture the job requirements of all 974 SOC codes because some of the occupations are rare.

Ongoing Data Collection

Based on BLS research on the shelf life of occupational data, BLS began collecting the second set of ORS data, the second wave, in September 2018. BLS is using a new sample design that will capture requirements for a broader range of occupations in the national economy. BLS will provide us with updated data on a continuous five-year cycle. The second wave concluded in 2023.

OIS Implementation Plan

Initially, OIS development started with the goal of supporting current policy with minimal change. However, as we analyzed and learned more about the data, SSA determined that larger changes to policy would be necessary.

In order for disability adjudicators to use the new OIS in our program, we need:

  • Wave 2, five-year production data from BLS
  • The Vocational Information tool (VIT)
  • New regulations and revised subregulatory guidance

Vocational Information Tool

The OIS will combine BLS ORS data with data from other reliable sources of occupational information into a web-based, information technology platform called the VIT.

Enhancing Occupational Data with Mental and Cognitive Work Demands

The DOT contains discrete and well-established descriptions of the physical demands of occupations, but 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 contacted disability program experts for help. We organized an internal workgroup of disability vocational policy experts and contracted psychiatric and psychological consultants. We started with a long, all-inclusive list of job requirements and worked it down to a manageable and collectible set.

BLS started testing the collection of the 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. The new set of questions were developed, then tested by BLS to better define cognitive concepts, definitions, and thresholds.

The new 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 data collection.

Our Activities in Fiscal Year 2012-2023

FY 2012

  • In July 2012, we entered into an interagency Agreement (IAA) with the 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.
  • In FY 2012 and FY 2013, we identified data elements that capture the physical demands and environmental conditions of work along with the necessary vocational preparation. 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.

FY 2013

  • In FY 2013 BLS designed and carried out a series of tests to assess the feasibility of using the National Compensation Survey (NCS) platform to collect the occupational data we need.
  • BLS conducted three phases of testing which started 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

  • In 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

  • In 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 us. 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 production data collection.

FY 2016

  • In 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 mental and cognitive data elements, a new set of questions were developed to better define cognitive concepts, definitions, and thresholds we could use for adjudication. BLS tested the wide-scale collection of these new 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 mental and cognitive demands of work questions.
  • BLS continued ongoing sample design research.
  • We used the first two years of data to inform decisions about updating the medical-vocational regulations.
  • We continued software development activities for the VIT platform.

FY 2019

  • In 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.
  • We continued software development activities for the VIT platform.
  • We continued analysis of the ORS data to determine regulatory and policy changes needed to implement it.

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.
  • The agencies 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 to begin the third wave of data collection.

More Information on the OIS project

For more information regarding the development of the OIS, see OIS Project FAQs and Fact Sheet. For additional inquiries, please visit: Contact Social Security | SSA.