Economist / Statistician (Economics)

Full Job Description

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision making.

This position is with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Field Operations Regional Office, Division of Compensation and Occupational Requirements.

This is an interdisciplinary position and may be filled either as an Economist or Statistician (Economics).

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Economist, GS-0110: A) Degree in economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting or calculus.

OR B) A combination of education and experience - courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Statistician (Economics), GS-1530: A) Degree that included 15 semester hours in statistics (or in mathematics and statistics, provided at least 6 semester hours were in statistics), and 9 additional semester hours in one or more of the following: physical or biological sciences, medicine, education, or engineering; or in the social sciences including demography, history, economics, social welfare, geography, international relations, social or cultural anthropology, health sociology, political science, public administration, psychology, etc.

Credit toward meeting statistical course requirements should be given for courses in which 50 percent of the course content appears to be statistical methods, e.g., courses that included studies in research methods in psychology or economics such as tests and measurements or business cycles, or courses in methods of processing mass statistical data such as tabulating methods or electronic data processing.

OR B) A combination of education and experience - courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

The experience should have included a full range of professional statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying statistical techniques such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance.

In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications to be considered.

For GS-13: Applicants must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-12 in the Federal Service.

Specialized Experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled.

To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level and includes professional experience with economic or statistical theory, principles, and research methods.

Qualifying specialized experience includes ALL of the following: Individual economic assignments, such as data collection or data review, that require planning, information assembly, demonstration of procedural knowledge, analysis and evaluation, conclusions, and report preparation; and Member of a project team that included developing recommendations for system requirements or recommendation to management for process improvement, or provided mentoring or on-the job training/couching; and Participated in the development and delivery of training materials.

For additional information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management Operating Manual for Qualification Standards, Group Coverage Qualification Standards for Professional and Scientific Positions.

Individual Occupation Requirements for Economist Series GS-110. Individual Occupation Requirement for Statistician Series GS-1530. Major Duties:

Duties include but are not limited to: Works with National Office staff to design and implement a national training program that will be used to train all new hires supporting the NCS and ORS programs.

Provides training to staff to improve survey collection procedures and survey non-response; and assists journey-level Field Economists in developing strategies for soliciting participation from critical respondents in multiple BLS surveys.

Develops data collection and response turnaround training based on a thorough knowledge of the socio-economic conditions of the region or area.

Develops and conducts national training workshops and provides on-the-job training for field staff on the more complex industries and procedures.

Participates on national teams which address program related issues and problems that are nationwide in scope.