Recent Graduate - Mathematical Statistician
What you'd do
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 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. For more information, click Pathways Programs.
Major duties
The duties described are for the GS-09 level. At the GS-07 level, assignments will be of more limited scope and performed with less independence and complexity. Duties include, but are not limited to the following: Provide technical support for the development and implementation of statistical methodology for BLS OEUS Programs, including survey design planning and evaluation, creation of sampling frames, sampling design and sample selection, estimation and variance estimation appropriate to sample design, statistical validation of survey results, and quality measurement and control. Participate in research and evaluation studies to address issues in survey design, estimation, variance estimation, and other statistical issues. Participate in the development and implementation of a broad spectrum of sample and survey designs for the establishment and household surveys. Participate in the development and implementation of monitoring systems for estimates and variances. Prepare drafts of technical statements of statistical findings, evaluations, and recommendations regarding survey design and estimation processes.
What you need to qualify
Applicants must have graduated, within the past two years, (with an associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, diploma, vocational, technical degree, or certificate, etc.) from a qualifying educational institution or career or technical educational program including registered Apprenticeship Programs, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, Climate Corps). You must meet the Basic Requirements and the Specialized Experience to qualify for Recent Graduate - Mathematical Statistician, as described below. Basic Requirement Mathematical Statistician, 1529: A) Degree: that included 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics. OR B) Combination of education and experience -- at least 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Evaluation of Education: Courses acceptable toward meeting the mathematics course requirement of A or B above must have included at least four of the following: differential calculus, integral calculus, advanced calculus, theory of equations, vector analysis, advanced algebra, linear algebra, mathematical logic, differential equations, or any other advanced course in mathematics for which one of these was a prerequisite. Courses in mathematical statistics or probability theory with a prerequisite of elementary calculus or more advanced courses will be accepted toward meeting the mathematics requirements, with the provision that the same course cannot be counted toward both the mathematics and the statistics requirement. Evaluation of Experience: The experience offered in combination with educational courses to meet the requirements in B above should include evidence of statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying known statistical techniques to data such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance. Without other indications of statistical experience, work required in the processing of numerical or quantified information by other than statistical methods is not considered appropriate qualifying experience. Specialized Experience 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: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 grade level. Qualifying specialized experience includes: Working on the design of a quantitative study that included addressing the following: identifying which data may address the phenomena being measured, identifying what statistics need to be produced, identifying how estimates will be calculated, and identifying how data will be analyzed; OR Reviewing collected quantitative data to ensure its statistical accuracy (internal and/or external validity) or reliability (precision); OR Producing estimates and outputs. Examples include means, medians, rates, percentiles, totals, and indexes. This may have involved executing computations and/or creating or editing graphs/visualizations of estimates using statistical software. 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. 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. 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. 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 Combination of Education and Specialized Experience: GS-07: An appropriate combination of graduate level education and specialized experience. GS-09: Applicants must have one year for specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level. Qualifying specialized experience includes: Making decisions regarding which persons or businesses to obtain or collect data from, and/or which statistical method(s) to use. This may have included assisting with activities such as identifying the sampling unit and gathering and preparing sampling frames OR assisting in the study, selection, or execution of a sampling method to draw samples from a sample frame, such as probability sampling (e.g. probability sampling may include utilizing cluster, simple random, proportional to size, stratified, systematic, or a combination of sampling methods (i.e. multi-stage sampling)); OR Completing the preparation of data to include, but not limited to, performing statistical processes for weighting data and/or addressing sampling error, non-sampling error (i.e. non-response error or response error); OR Drafting portions of technical papers that explain statistical requirements or statistical methods; OR Performing statistical research that may have included, but not limited to, the following topics: evaluating new sampling techniques, analyzing frame data, evaluating alternative estimators, evaluating alternative variance computation techniques, testing better approaches for obtaining survey data, evaluating non-response bias, evaluating seasonal adjustment procedures, evaluating imputation procedures, researching regression trees and estimators, OR systems development and/or testing to document statistical requirements/specifications or test software according to statistical requirements/specifications. Education Substitution: GS-09: 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 Specialized Experience: GS-09: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements (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.
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