Skilled or semi-skilled work experience should provide the individual with skills
that will enable them to adjust to other work (different from past relevant work)
that exists in the national economy, at the substantial gainful activity level, despite
a possible future reduction in their residual functional capacity.
To evaluate the skills the individual will acquire as a result of completing their
employment plan (or continuing in the plan for a specified period of time) and to
determine the existence in the national economy of work the individual will be able
to do despite a possible future reduction in their RFC, the examiner will need to
know if the work goal is an unskilled, semi-skilled, or skilled occupation. The examiner
should use the Dictionary of Occupational Titles at http://www.oalj.dol.gov/libdot.htm for occupational information. Additional resources for classifying occupations are
VR specialists at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/work/ServiceProviders/rehabproviders.html, and the Occupational Information Network at http://online.onetcenter.org/.
In classifying occupations, use the following definitions:
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Unskilled work involves simple duties that can be learned on the job in a short period
of time and requires little or no judgment.
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Semi-skilled work requires some skills and judgment but does not require doing the
more complex work duties.
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Skilled work requires an individual to use judgment to determine the tasks to be performed
and may require dealing with people, facts, figures or abstract ideas at a high level
of complexity.
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Transferability of skills means skills that can be used in other jobs. Skills are
transferable when the skilled or semi-skilled work activities the individual did in
past work can be used to meet the requirements of skilled or semi-skilled work activities
of other jobs or kinds of work. Transferability depends largely on the similarity
of occupationally significant work activities among different jobs. See DI 25015.015A.3.g. for special rules regarding transferability of skills for individuals age 55 or over.