Angelica Evans v. CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Acting Commissioner of Social Security

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ANGELICA EVANS,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
CAROLYN W. COLVIN, Acting
Commissioner of Social Security,
Defendant - Appellee.
No. 14-56480
D.C. No. 5:13-cv-01500-RZ
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Ralph Zarefsky, Magistrate Judge, Presiding
Submitted June 9, 2016**
Pasadena, California
Before: RAWLINSON, and BEA, Circuit Judges, and EATON,*** Judge.
FILED
JAN 10 2017
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
*** Richard K. Eaton, Judge for the United States Court of International
Trade, sitting by designation.

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Angelica Evans appeals the district court’s decision affirming the
Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of her application for disability
insurance under Title II of the Social Security Act. We affirm.
Evans challenges whether the number of jobs available in the regional
economy which the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found Evans could perform
at step five of the sequential disability determination constituted a “significant
number.” The ALJ’s determination that 600 regional jobs constituted a significant
number is supported by caselaw within this and other circuits. For instance,
Barker v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 882 F.2d 1474, 1478-79 (9th
Cir. 1989), cited with approval cases that held 600 regional jobs or fewer
constituted a significant number. Specifically, Barker cited with approval Jenkins
v. Bowen, 861 F.2d 1083, 1087 (8th Cir. 1988) (500 regional jobs constituted a
significant number), Salazar v. Califano, Unemp.Ins.Rep. (CCH, para. 15,835)
(E.D. Cal. 1978) (unpublished) (600 jobs constituted a significant number), and
Uravitch v. Heckler, No. CIV 84-1619, 1986 WL 83443, at *1 (D. Ariz. May 2,
1986) (unpublished) (“even though 60-70% of 500-600 relevant positions required
experience plaintiff did not have, remaining positions constitute significant
2

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number”1). Moreover, Gutierrez v. Commissioner of Social Security, 740 F.3d
519, 528 (9th Cir. 2014), cited with approval Johnson v. Chater, 108 F.3d 178,
180-81 (8th Cir. 1997) (200 jobs in Iowa represented a significant number),
Trimiar v. Sullivan, 966 F.2d 1326, 1330-32 (10th Cir. 1992) (650 to 900 jobs in
Oklahoma constituted a significant number), and Allen v. Bowen, 816 F.2d 600,
602 (11th Cir. 1987) (1,600 jobs in Georgia constituted a significant number).
Here, the ALJ’s determination that 600 regional jobs constituted a significant
number is consistent with these cases.
AFFIRMED.
1This quotation is taken from Barker. 882 F.2d at 1479. Barker cites
Uravitch incorrectly. Uravitch holds that even though 60-75% of 500-600 relevant
positions required experience plaintiff did not have, the remaining positions
constituted a significant number. Uravitch, 1986 WL 83443 at *1. This does not
impact the analysis here.
3

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