When deciding a disability claim, the Social Security Administration looks at whether an individual is able to perform the duties of a job at steps 4 and 5 of the sequential evaluation. Social Security does not consider whether an individual would be hired for that job.

Social Security’s regulations directly address this issue.

20 CFR 404.1566(c) states:

(c) Inability to obtain work. We will determine that you are not disabled if your residual functional capacity and vocational abilities make it possible for you to do work which exists in the national economy, but you remain unemployed because of—

(1) Your inability to get work;

(2) Lack of work in your local area;

(3) The hiring practices of employers;

(4) Technological changes in the industry in which you have worked;

(5) Cyclical economic conditions;

(6) No job openings for you;

(7) You would not actually be hired to do work you could otherwise do; or

(8) You do not wish to do a particular type of work.

Social Security will match your functional abilities against the requirements of of jobs in the national economy. For the purposes of a Social Security disability determination, it doesn’t matter if no employer would hire you.