Social Security Disability and Vocational Evidence

SSA's five-step sequential evaluation asks: substantial gainful activity, severe impairment, listing equivalence, past relevant work, and other work. Steps 4 and 5 rely on vocational evidence.

SSA vocational experts answer hypothetical questions from the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) regarding the claimant's ability to perform past relevant work or other work in the national economy given the residual functional capacity.

The governing framework is SSR 24-3p, which SSA applies to claims pending on or after January 6, 2025 and to applications filed on or after that date. Under SSR 24-3p a vocational expert may rely on professional experience and on any reliable source of occupational information commonly used in the vocational profession, not only the DOT. The expert is expected to identify the sources of the data relied on, to explain the general approach used to estimate job numbers, and to explain any difference where a source defines exertion, education, or skill levels differently than SSA's regulations. The adjudicator then determines, on the vocational evidence and the record as a whole, whether the expert's evidence is adequate to support the finding at step 4 or step 5.

SSR 24-3p rescinded and replaced SSR 00-4p, which governed determinations and decisions issued before January 6, 2025. SSR 00-4p required adjudicators to identify and resolve apparent conflicts between vocational expert testimony and the DOT; SSA no longer requires adjudicators to identify and resolve conflicts between the expert's occupational information and the DOT.

Civil litigation applies open-ended methodology (transferable skills analysis (TSA), labor market survey (LMS), full labor market analysis). SSA testimony is constrained by the regulatory framework and SSA rulings; it uses DOT terminology together with the other reliable occupational sources SSR 24-3p permits.