O*NET Analysis

When it is used

O*NET is used alongside the DOT for current occupational information, particularly for newer occupations or when task-level detail is required.

Step-by-step

1. Search O*NET for the SOC code or occupation title
2. Review tasks, skills, work activities, work context, and job zone
3. Apply to the individual's restrictions and background
4. Supplement with BLS OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) data for wages

Data sources

• O*NET database (regularly updated)
• BLS SOC-crosswalked wage data

How O*NET describes an occupation

O*NET describes each occupation in the Standard Occupational Classification through a common set of descriptors gathered from incumbent workers and occupational analysts: the tasks performed, the knowledge, skills and abilities the work requires, the work activities and work context, the interests and work values associated with the occupation, and a job zone that summarizes the education, training and experience typically needed. The database is updated on a rolling schedule, so an occupation's profile reflects recent survey data rather than a single publication date. Because the descriptors are common across occupations, any two occupations can be compared on the same scale, which is the property transferable skills analysis relies on.

Using O*NET in a vocational evaluation

An expert begins from the occupation that best describes the evaluee's past work and reads its profile as a statement of the skills and knowledge the work built. Candidate occupations are then identified by their proximity on the same descriptors, and each candidate is checked against the evaluee's restrictions using the work context items that describe physical activity, exposure and pace. The job zone tells the expert whether a candidate is within reach without further training and, if not, how much preparation the transition would take.

O*NET's own descriptors do not carry wage or employment figures. The occupation's Standard Occupational Classification code is the bridge to the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage and employment statistics, which report median and percentile wages for the occupation by state and metropolitan area, and the expert cites those figures with their area, period and retrieval date. The combination of an O*NET profile and an area wage figure is the usual basis for a post-injury earning capacity opinion.

Where O*NET needs the DOT

O*NET's physical descriptors are rated on scales of importance and level rather than in the strength and frequency terms physicians use when they write restrictions, so an expert who needs to state that an occupation is light or sedentary, or that it requires occasional rather than frequent stooping, turns to the DOT and its companion volume for those ratings. O*NET groups occupations more broadly than the DOT, so one O*NET occupation may cover several DOT titles with different demands. And in Social Security adjudication the DOT remains the reference the agency's rulings name. The two references are therefore used together: O*NET for current tasks, skills and the link to wage data, the DOT for the physical and preparation ratings that restrictions are written in.

Limitations

O*NET descriptors differ from DOT in granularity; cross-referencing is necessary when DOT-style physical demand detail is required.

Admissibility

O*NET-based vocational analyses are widely accepted.