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| Usual Opposition Position |
| Some VEI analyses include an assessment of labor market access using the Vocational
Assessment of Lost Earnings (VALE) software. Some opposition also
infers that the software develops the expert opinions expressed in the
analyses. |
| VEI Position |
| The VALE software does not develop opinions on cases. It is used
merely as a spreadsheet tool for calculating earning capacity, worklife
expectancy, and loss of lifetime earnings.
Use of the VALE software is similar to use of a calculator, which
is accepted without question. As
with a calculator, the user reviews the output for reasonableness and
accuracy. To assure accuracy, quality control personnel within Vocational Econometrics
checked the VALE software calculations thoroughly and repeatedly.
Use of VALE allows a very complex earning capacity calculation to be conducted accurately and efficiently.
The U.S. Department of Labor, in the Dictionary of Occupational
Titles, defines the worker characteristics required in over 12,000
jobs existing in the United States. In
addition, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
provide information on the number of people employed in 500 job categories
and the average earnings of people in these categories.
The software combines this government
data, producing average earnings for persons with specific characteristics.
This calculation could be conducted manually, but doing it
manually would take tremendous time and would increase the likelihood of
error. |
Last modified:
Thursday January 26, 2006 04:09 PM
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