Court Opinion

ID: 9486344
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:45:20.636268+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:40.027303
License: Public Domain

*1114ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the reversal and remand for reconsideration. I am concerned, however, with certain language in Judge Merritt’s opinion which infers that the skills of á light truck' driver, per se, can not be deemed “highly marketable.”
I would hold that as a matter of law, being a light truck driver is a skill within the meaning of the statute and regulations. See Paulson v. Bowen, 836 F.2d 1249, 1251 (9th Cir.1988); Perez v. Heckler, 777 F.2d 298, 303 (5th Cir.1985). All fifty states require a license in order to operate a motor vehicle. Tests are uniformly required to qualify for such a license. That the great mass of Americans may be licensed to drive motor vehicles does not detract from the fact that states require certain skills before granting such licenses. The skill required to operate a smaller truck is probably not as great as that for a semi-tractor, but surely it is greater than that for an ordinary car. To suggest that driving a small truck or van can never be a skill within the.meaning of 20 C.F.R. § 404.1563(d), is in my judgment simply not in accordance with the use of the regulations and the language used therein. Whether such a skill in a given place, or at a given time, is “highly marketable” depends upon specific facts and circumstances usually to be drawn from expert testimony.
Judge Merritt has, I think, wisely refrained from commenting adversely upon the vocational expert’s avoidance of expressing her opinion in terms of the ultimate question of when skills are not only marketable but “highly” marketable. It seems obvious to me from her testimony that the expert felt this would be invading the province of the administrative law judge. I understand that. At the same time I think that to meet the burden upon the Secretary, more specific findings must be made with regard to the market that exists for the claimant’s skills.
I favor the approach taken by District Judge Stewart A. Newblatt in Foster v. United States, 1990 WL 126475, 1990 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 11241 (E.D.Mich. April 18, 1990), as quoted in Judge Merritt’s opinion. Especially when compared with the standards for the increments of age which are defined for persons under fifty, between fifty and fifty-four, between fifty-five and sixty, and between sixr ty and sixty-four, it seems to me that the term “highly” is not meant to pertain to the marketability of the specific applicant in question based upon that applicant’s respective disability, for this is already adequately dealt with by the regulations. Instead it is related essentially to market factors and the availability of job prospects. While I am uncertain about the language that skills must be “sufficiently unique,” cited from the Commissioner’s Report and Recommendation for Foster v. Health and Human Resources, No. 89-CV-40012-FL, 1990 WL 126475, *2-3, 1989 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 17081 *1-3 (E.D.Mich. Oct. 31,1989), its further language that skills should be “sufficiently coveted by employers such that a person possessing claimant’s skills could readily sell them to a willing buyer” is realistically and practically a very sound standard for defining skills that are “highly marketable.” Furthermore, such a standard effectively, and rationally, distinguishes the criteria used to judge applicants aged 55-59 (mandating transferability only in cases where “jobs exist in significant numbers in the national economy”) with the requirements to be met by those who are 60-64.
Judges cannot be entirely insensitive to the realities of modern-day life. - While younger vehicle operators may possess greater physical strength and quicker reaction time, older drivers may on the other hand possess a far greater sense of responsibility, reliability, and respect for the law, factors derived from experience and training which may be of equal or even greater importance to potential employers. These factors can, and often do, offset any disadvantage which sheer age may impose upon the role of the aged in the competitive market, at least for a substantial number of available jobs.
. Finally, the motivation for employment on the part of an applicant sixty to sixty-five years of age is quite different from that of a young wage earner. Older employees frequently are already receiving pensions and retirement benefits from former employers and are looking for means not only to augment their income but to enrich their lives *1115through continued contact with the working world. Employer’s recognize this and recognize the economic advantages to be gained from hiring such persons.
These observations are by no means definitive. They are value judgments. I simply point them out as being among those considerations which can affect job marketability, in a given area and at a given time, and determine whether a claimant’s skills are “sufficiently coveted by employers such that a person possessing claimant’s skills could readily sell them to a willing buyer.” A competent and well-skilled vocational expert should take these factors into consideration when evaluating whether the skill of being a light truck driver is a highly marketable one. It is my feeling that the failure of either the vocational expert or the magistrate to consider marketability in this comprehensive fashion compels reversal.