[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

No. 97-1095

GILBERTO MELENDEZ,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,

Defendant, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Juan M. Perez-Gimenez, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Torruella, Chief Judge,

Stahl and Lynch, Circuit Judges.

Melba N. Rivera-Camacho and Melba N. Rivera-Camacho & Assocs. on

brief for appellant. Guillermo Gil, United States Attorney, Edna Rosario, Assistant

United States Attorney, and Donna McCarthy, Assistant Regional

Counsel, Social Security Administration, on brief for appellee.

September 3, 1997

Per Curiam. Claimant-appellant Gilberto Melendez

appeals from a judgment of the district court affirming a

decision of the Commissioner of Social Security that Melendez

was not entitled to disability benefits. Having carefully

reviewed the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm

essentially for the reasons stated by the district court in

its opinion dated November 13, 1996. We are persuaded that

the hypothetical question posed to the Vocational Expert

("VE") was adequate under the particular circumstances of

this case. The VE's testimony indicates that he considered

all eight areas in which appellant was found to have moderate

mental limitations, though he did not recite each of these

areas. Finally, although the VE did mention some evidence

after the insured period, the VE relied on residual

functional capacity assessments for the critical period in

reaching his conclusion that appellant could perform past

jobs.

We add simply that, contrary to appellant's

suggestion, the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") was not

required to recite every piece of evidence that favored

appellant. See Stein v. Sullivan,

(7th

Cir. 1992) (noting that the level of articulation required is

not precise). The ALJ's decision reveals that he considered

the evidence as a whole, and it indicates the path of his

reasoning. No more was required.

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Affirmed.

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