Cite as: 540 U. S. 20 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
two is on the list of impairments presumed severe enough to render one disabled; if so, the claimant qualifies. §§ 404.1520(d), 416.920(d). If the claimant's impairment is not on the list, the inquiry proceeds to step four, at which the SSA assesses whether the claimant can do his previous work; unless he shows that he cannot, he is determined not to be disabled.1 If the claimant survives the fourth stage, the fifth, and final, step requires the SSA to consider so-called "vocational factors" (the claimant's age, education, and past work experience), and to determine whether the claimant is capable of performing other jobs existing in significant numbers in the national economy. §§ 404.1520(f), 404.1560(c), 416.920(f), 416.960(c).2
As the above description shows, step four can result in a determination of no disability without inquiry into whether the claimant's previous work exists in the national economy; the regulations explicitly reserve inquiry into the national economy for step five. Thus, the SSA has made it perfectly clear that it does not interpret the clause "which exists in the national economy" in § 423(d)(2)(A) as applying to "previous work." 3 The issue presented is whether this agency interpretation must be accorded deference.
1 The step-four instructions to the claimant read as follows: "If we cannot make a decision based on your current work activity or on medical facts alone, and you have a severe impairment(s), we then review your residual functional capacity and the physical and mental demands of the work you have done in the past. If you can still do this kind of work, we will find that you are not disabled." 20 CFR §§ 404.1520(e), 416.920(e) (2003).
2 In regulations that became effective on September 25, 2003, the SSA amended certain aspects of the five-step process in ways not material to this opinion. The provisions referred to as subsections (e) and (f) in this opinion are now subsections (f) and (g).
3 This interpretation was embodied in the regulations that first established the five-step process in 1978, see 43 Fed. Reg. 55349 (codified, as amended, at 20 CFR §§ 404.1520 and 416.920 (1982)). Even before enactment of § 423(d)(2)(A) as part of the Social Security Amendments of 1967, the SSA disallowed disability benefits when the inability to work was
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