To evaluate a claimant’s work as generally performed in the national economy, locate
the occupational counterpart for the claimant’s job in the Dictionary of Occupational
Titles (DOT).
If there is no occupational counterpart in the DOT, you cannot evaluate past relevant
(PRW) as generally performed in the national economy unless you have evidence from
other reliable occupational information that provides this. See DI 25015.030, Use of Vocational Expert and Vocational Specialist Evidence, and Other Reliable
Occupational Information in Disability Decisions—SSR 00-4p.
NOTE: When evaluating PRW the claimant performed in the military, do not use a “civilian”
counterpart to a military job to conclude that the claimant could perform their past
relevant work “as generally performed in the national economy.” If the military occupation
is not defined in the DOT, the step 4 determination for these cases is an analysis
of the claimant’s ability to perform his or her military occupation as they performed
the job. The DOT does not provide information about the physical and mental demands
of all military occupations, so we are not always able to evaluate military occupations
as generally performed in the national economy unless we have evidence from other
reliable occupational information that provides this. Therefore, if the claimant’s
military occupation is not in the DOT and if the claimant is unable to perform his
or her military PRW as they describe it, proceed to step 5. At step 5 of sequential
evaluation, a claimant may be able to use skills they gained from skilled or semiskilled
military PRW to adjust to other work.