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Recent Graduate - Economist / Statistician (Economics)

Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Philadelphia Regional Office
This job announcement has closed

Summary

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.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open date: 07/10/2023
Closed date: 07/17/2023
Location
Few vacancies in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$51,241 - $66,612 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 7
Promotion potential
12 - There is no obligation to provide future promotions to you if you are selected. Promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, the need for an employee promoted to the higher level, and supervisory approval.
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Excepted Service
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Announcement number
PW-23-CHI-BLS-12031107-MTD
Control number
735962700

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Eligible recent graduates from qualifying educational institutions. *Note: Students who are expected to graduate in the Summer 2023 term may apply.

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Duties

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This position is located in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Field Operations, Division of Federal/State Cooperative Programs.

Incumbent will have to report to the office in Philadelphia, PA.

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

Duties include but are not limited to:

  • Provide collection expertise and feedback to the development of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey programs, to effectively and efficiently execute survey activities both directly and through grantees, and to conduct an active program of information and outreach for BLS products.
  • Provide technical assistance and guidance to cooperating state agencies in the collection, processing, estimating, benchmarking, analysis and interpretation of data generated by the States and reviewed by the Branch programs. Develops technical instructions for the states on statistical methods and procedures. Prepares technical material to aid in the development of operating manuals and position papers for use by the regional office and the cooperating agencies.
  • Communicate with regional and state staff in translating statistical program requirements into various automated systems.
  • Through on-site and remote reviews and analysis of reports, assures the integrity and validity of data produced by cooperating state agencies. May collect data and coordinate quality control work including response analysis studies and other special projects to improve overall program output.
  • Reviews national program plans and specifications and comments on their adequacies and expected impact. Assists in adapting national directives to regional needs, conditions and resources.
Duties at the GS-07 are development leading up to the full performance level of the GS-12

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be at least 16 years old and a U.S. Citizen.
  • Appointment to these positions may require a background investigation.
  • Requires a valid drivers license.
  • Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
  • 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 series and grade they wish to be considered for.

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.

Basic Requirements: 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 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.

Specialized experience should include a thorough range of complex economic professional work.

GS-7, Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level GS-05 in the Federal Service.

Qualifying specialized experience includes: Analyzed or interpreted economic or statistical information to identify and resolve discrepancies; Written up collected data into software for review and transmittal; Prepared reports based on collected economic or statistical information.

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.

  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: 2.95 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 3.45 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 https://www.achshonor.org/.

OR

Combination of Education and Specialized Experience:

GS-7: Graduate education (less than one year) and specialized experience as required for GS-07 (less than one year) that when combined totals one year.

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.

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.

Additional information

This position is inside the NCFLL bargaining unit.

Persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have speech disabilities, please dial 711 to access telecommunications relay services.

The mission of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to protect the welfare of workers and job seekers, improve working conditions, expand high-quality employment opportunities, and assure work-related benefits and rights for all workers. As such, the Department is committed to fostering a workplace and workforce that promote equal employment opportunity, reflects the diversity of the people we seek to serve, and models a culture of respect, equity, inclusion, and accessibility where every employee feels heard, supported, and empowered.

Refer to these links for more information: GENERAL INFORMATION, REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION, ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION, FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements. Reference the "Required Documents" section for additional requirements.

This appointment is under the DOL Recent Graduates program. The program duration is one year.

The appointee must be a U.S. citizen in order to be eligible for conversion to a permanent position in the competitive service upon completion of the program. 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.

Position Telework eligibility is determined by management based on position duties during the recruitment process. Employee participation in telework on a routine or situational basis is determined by management primarily based on business needs. Employees participating in telework are subject to the terms and conditions of the Department of Labor's Telework Program.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applicants meeting the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements will be evaluated against the competencies described below and will be placed into one of the following quality categories, based on responses to the vacancy questionnaire:

Category A - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in applying the critical competencies required by this position to work of increased levels of difficulty and complexity.

Category B - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the critical competencies by this position.

Category C - Meets the specialized experience described in the minimum qualification requirements section of this announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the basic competencies.

Evaluation Factors (Competencies) - All qualified applicants will be evaluated on the following key competencies:

  • Customer Service
  • Economics
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Problem Solving
  • Technology Application

Click here for Evaluation details.

You may preview questions for this vacancy here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12031107

The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, volunteer, and other lived experience, as it demonstrates the competencies or skills required for the position to be filled. Your evaluation may include an interview, reference checks, or other assessment conducted by HR specialists, subject matter experts, or panel members and may include other assessment tools (ex. interview, structured interview, written test, work sample, etc.).

The examining Office of Human Resources (OHR) makes the final determination concerning applicant ratings. Your resume MUST provide sufficient information to substantiate your vacancy question responses. If not, the OHR may amend your responses to more accurately reflect the level of competency indicated by the content of your resume.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Agency contact information

Mitchell Desy
Phone
312-353-1591
Email
Desy.Mitchell.T@dol.gov
Address
Bureau of Labor Statistics
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20210
US

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