This position is in Department of Labor (DOL), Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Office of Research and Analysis (ORA), Division of Economic Research and Analysis. This division conducts and disseminates economic research calibrated to advance EBSA's mission and expand economic knowledge related to employee benefits.

Duties

The following are the duties of an Economist at the GS-13. The duties at the lower grade levels are similar, however the duties are more limited, and the breadth of the responsibility is narrower. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position. Conduct applied economic and statistical analysis of policy, enforcement, legislative and regulatory issues relating to employment-based pension and health benefits. Using statistical applications such as SAS, Stata, or R, to produce statistics on employment-based pension and health benefits using relevant microdata files, which may include datasets that are publicly available as well as those internal to EBSA (e.g., Form 5500, Current Population Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation, the Survey of Consumer Finance, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, health claims data). Review, test, and critique analytical tools to identify potential enforcement case leads among employee benefit plans that file the Form 5500, analyze health claims data, and estimate financial losses. Manage portfolio of frequently utilized readily accessible public and proprietary, primary and secondary databases focused on private employment-based health and retirement benefits and public social insurance programs. Contribute to the implementation and management of the economic research program, including oversight of research contracts. Promotion to the next higher grade is not guaranteed and is dependent on demonstration of 1) successful performance, 2) successful completion of training, 3) determination by the supervisor that the employee is capable of performing at the next higher grade level in the career ladder, and 4) the needs of the Agency.

Requirements

• Must be at least 16 years old.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.

Qualifications

You must meet the Basic Requirements and the Specialized Experience to qualify for the Economist, GS-0110-11/12/13 Basic Requirements: 1. Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus. OR 2. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience as listed below or additional education. 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. Applicant must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower graded level in the Federal Services. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE - GS-11: In addition to the basic requirement, to qualify for this position you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 which is the next lower grade level of the normal line of progression of this position in the Federal government. Examples of qualifying Specialized Experience for the GS-11 includes: Experience using economic theory or statistical and econometric methods (e.g., using statistical software packages like SAS, Stata, or R) to conduct analysis or experience researching various aspects relevant to private or public health and retirement benefits. OR Education substitution for GS-11: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, if related. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE - GS-12: In addition to the basic requirement, to qualify for this position you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 which is the next lower grade level of the normal line of progression of this position in the Federal government. Examples of qualifying Specialized Experience for the GS-12 are: Experience using economic theory or statistical and econometric methods (e.g., using statistical software packages like SAS, Stata, or R) to conduct quantitative research projects, or experience querying, analyzing, and interpreting statistics generated from datasets containing information about private or public health and retirement benefits (examples of such data include Form 5500, Form M-1, Current Population Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Survey of Consumer Finance, Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, Morningstar, health claims data). SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE - GS-13: In addition to the basic requirement, to qualify for this position you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 which is the next lower grade level of the normal line of progression of this position in the Federal government. Examples of qualifying Specialized Experience for the GS-13 are: Experience designing and implementing research projects examining private or public health and retirement benefits using economic theory and relevant statistical and econometric methods (e.g., using statistical software packages like SAS, Stata, or R) or experience leading projects that require querying, analyzing, and interpreting statistics generated from datasets containing information about private or public health and retirement benefits (examples of such data include Form 5500, Form M-1, Current Population Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Survey of Consumer Finance, Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, Morningstar, health claims data). Some topics relevant to private or public health and retirement benefits include but are not limited to: health and retirement plans; savings, investments, and financial markets; health insurance claims and processing; health and life insurance, healthcare and prescription drug markets; Social insurance programs, Social Security, Medicare, and/or Medicaid; public, applied micro, industrial, financial, or regulatory economics; statistical sampling and program evaluations

Education

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 course work requirements for this position.

Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

Contacts

• Address Employee Benefits Security Administration 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20210 US
• Name: Leslie Carey
• Phone: 312-353-0507
• Email: [email protected]