Social Security updates job list to evaluate disability benefits

(NewsNation) — The Social Security Administration has announced a major change that could help more people qualify for disability benefits.

When applicants say they cannot work, the agency compares their claim to a list of jobs that are abundant in the country to see if they could reasonably perform them and stay off government payments. But many have argued the list is out of date, and the administration now says it’s been modernized.

The SSA dropped 114 roles, including agricultural engineers, astronomers and scuba divers, which only “exist in very limited numbers, if at all.”

“Based on this finding, the agency will not use these occupations to support a “not disabled” finding at the last step in the evaluation process for disability determinations,” the SSA said in a statement.

The move is meant to help SSA be more specific when deciding if someone who is applying for disability benefits can hold other jobs.

Critics have called the SAA database “unfair and flawed,” CBS News reported. “It was last updated in 1977 and includes dozens of obsolete occupations.”

“It makes sense to identify occupations that now exist in very limited numbers in the national economy,” Martin O’Malley, commissioner of Social Security, said in a statement. “By making this update, our decision-makers will no longer cite these jobs when denying a disability application.”

It’s part of the agency’s push to streamline the application process. They also announced they’re trimming the required work history for applicants from 15 years down to five.

The Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy posted on X that these changes will “ease life for millions.”