What does a vocational expert do at a disability hearing?

A vocational expert (VE) is an independent professional who testifies about work in the economy. The VE does not examine the claimant or decide the claim. The role is to answer the judge's questions about jobs.

What the VE does.

• Classifies the claimant's past work — its skill level and physical demands.
• Answers hypothetical questions from the judge: if a person of a given age, education, and work history had specific limits, could that person do the past work, or any other work? If other work exists, the VE names the occupations and estimates the number of jobs.

Why it matters. Most claims are decided on residual functional capacity, and the VE's answers turn on the exact limits in each hypothetical. A hypothetical limited to light work with no climbing may produce many jobs; one that adds a need to be off task part of the day or to miss work regularly may produce none. The medical evidence has to support those added limits, which is why treating-provider statements matter. See residual functional capacity.

Cross-examination. The representative can question the VE on the basis for the testimony. Common lines include: whether the occupations match the limits in the hypothetical; whether the job numbers come from a reliable source; whether the VE's testimony conflicts with the Dictionary of Occupational Titles; and how the answers change when added limits are included.

See hearing representation.