Economist/Statistician (Economics)

Basic Requirement

Economist, 0110: A) Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.
OR
B) Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Statistician, 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) 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.

For GS-07: In addition to the basic requirements above, 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 assisting with tasks related to one of the following:

- Tabulating and processing economic data; or
- Assisting in developing economic training materials to serve as a training resource; or
- Delivering public presentations on economic/statistical topics.

For GS-09: In addition to the basic requirements above, applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-07, in the federal service. Qualifying specialized experience includes assisting with tasks related to one of the following:

- Collecting and arranging economic data to assist with developing position papers and/or reports; or
- Analyzing and interpreting economic data for the purpose of drafting preliminary findings and identifying patterns; or
- Assisting in delivering basic training and/or assisting in leading workshops on economic/statistical topics.

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/.

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 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.

GS-9: Graduate education (more than one year but less than two) and specialized experience as required for GS-09 (less than one year) that when combined totals one year. Only graduate education beyond the first year (18 semester hours or quarter hour equivalent) can be combined with experience to total 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.