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 is an appointment under the DOL Recent Graduates program. The program duration is one year. Upon successful completion of the program and at the agency's discretion, the appointee may be converted to a term or permanent position in the competitive service.

Duties

Duties include but are not limited to: The incumbent plans, schedules, and conducts data collection assignments using fairly complex economic or statistical techniques which are covered by established methods and procedures. Work requires some adaptation of established procedures, the recognition of the significance of variations, and interpretation of limited findings. 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 or follow-up contact with respondents to ensure reliability and comparability as well as reasonableness and conformance to survey requirements. 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. Duties at the GS-07/09 are development leading up to the full performance level of the GS-12

Requirements

• Must be at least 16 years.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.
• Requires a trial period if the requirement has not been met.
• Requires a valid driver's license.
• Appointees must sign a DOL Pathways Recent Graduate Program Participant Agreement.
• The entire duration of the Recent Graduate Appointment constitutes a trial period.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet the Basic Requirements and the minimum qualifications to qualify for each grade they wish to be considered for. This is an interdisciplinary position and can be filled either as an Economist (0110 series) or as a Statistician (Economics) (1530 series). Basic Requirement: 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: Specialized Experience: GS-7: One (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-5. GS-9: One (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-7. Specialized experience should include a thorough range of complex economic professional work. Some examples of qualifying specialized experience include: GS-7: Planned, scheduled, and collected economic data from assigned companies and industries; Collected data via personal visits, video collaboration tools, phone, and or/email; Written up collected data into software for review and transmittal. GS-9: Contacted sampled establishments to schedule appointments and conduct interviews; Secured voluntary cooperation and interviewed company officials to collect data from business for timely survey results; Made follow up contact to respondents for necessary clarifications to ensure accuracy of data provided. OR Education Substitution: GS-7: 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. 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. 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 4years 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. Election to membership in an approved national scholastic honor society. GS-9: 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree. OR Combination of Education and Experience: GS-7: An appropriate combination of graduate level education and specialized experience. GS-9: An appropriate combination of specialized experience and education (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. 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 and Statistician Series GS-1530.

Education

To be eligible for an appointment, you must meet requirements A. or B.

A. Completed all requirements for an associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, vocational, or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution within the previous two years;

OR

B. Was released or discharged from active duty within the previous two years, where the applicant is a veteran who, due to a military service obligation, was precluded from applying for a recent graduate position during any portion of the two-year eligibility period following completion of his/her degree or certificate requirements, provided that not more than six years have transpired since the applicant completed the requirements for a degree or certification. You must submit an academic transcript from your academic institution showing the date that you most recently completed the academic requirements described above. See the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

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.

Contacts

• Address Bureau of Labor Statistics 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20210 US
• Name: Holly Huntsberger
• Phone: 312-353-4781
• Email: [email protected]