Vocational Experts: who are they, what are their qualifications, and what role do they play in SSA disability hearings
Who are Vocational Experts? Generally, a Vocational Expert ("VE") is an expert witness who knows about job availability in the current labor market as well as the skills that are needed to perform specific jobs. In the Social Security Administration ("SSA") disability setting, VEs are vocational professionals who provide impartial expert opinion evidence about a claimant’s vocational abilities that an ALJ considers when making a decision about disability. As many Social Security Disability attorneys know, the bulk of VEs provide testimony in SSA disability hearings. In this context, the United States Supreme Court noted that VEs are: “[P]professionals under contract with the Social Security Administration to provide impartial testimony in agency proceedings. They must have expertise and current knowledge of working conditions and physical demands of various jobs; knowledge of the existence and numbers of those jobs in the national economy; and involvement in or kn