Economist/Statistician (Economics)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 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 inside the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Field Operations, Division of Price Programs, Industrial Price, Producer Price and International Price Index.

• Plans, schedules, and conducts data collection assignments using fairly complex economic or statistical techniques which are covered by established methods and procedures.
• Makes arrangements preparatory to obtaining voluntary data from enterprises for which the collection of data is expected to present relatively few complexities and for which precedents exist. Applies standard practices and techniques to the solicitation of data and reports information in accordance with survey requirements.
• Evaluates the data collected and makes adjustments to ensure reliability and comparability as well as reasonableness and conformance to survey requirements.
• Makes follow-up contact to respondents providing data to ensure accurate and timely survey results. While most data requirements are straight forward, some analysis is necessary to ensure that the data reported are accurate.
• Critically evaluate collection experiences in relations to survey design and specifications, survey materials, economic conditions affecting the industry and area studied, and trends in the industry and area. Recommends modifications in survey methods oriented toward improvements in the survey plan.
• Performs other duties as assigned. For training and development purposes, assignments may include some segments or aspects of work that are typically at a higher level.

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

Applicants must meet the Basic Requirement AND Minimum qualifications for each grade they wish to be considered for by the closing date of the announcement.

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 Requirement above, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications to be considered:

GS-07: Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to GS-05 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.

GS-07: Planned, scheduled, and collected economic data from assigned companies and industries; collected data via personal visits, video collaboration tools, phone, and or/email; and written up collected data into software for review and transmittal.

OR

Education Substitution:

GS-07: 1 year of graduate-level education or superior academic achievement. Superior Academic Achievement is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership.

1. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses.
2. Grade-point average (G.P.A.) -- Applicants must have a grade-point average of: 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
3. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society. A list of acceptable honor societies can be found at Association of College Honor Societies

OR

GS-07: An appropriate combination of graduate level education and specialized experience.

Education must have been gained in a curriculum that is qualifying for the position to be filled. Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this position.

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 Statistics Series GS-1530.

Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service.

If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.