Economist

Applicants who have recently obtained or are on the verge of completing their PhD are required to submit three recommendation letters either through "JOE" or by attaching the recommendation letters to their job application. All other applicants must submit a list of three references.

Applicants must meet eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.  Time in grade restrictions do not apply to Direct Hire procedures.

GS-15: In addition to meeting the basic educational requirements, you must have 1 year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service. 

Unofficial or official transcripts must be submitted to verify educational qualification requirements.  If transcripts are not submitted, candidates will be deemed ineligible.

To be deemed as qualified, candidates must meet the Basic Educational Qualification Requirement outlined in Part A and the Specialized Experience and/or Educational requirements outlined in Part B.

A. Basic Educational Qualification Requirement

Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.

OR

Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

For this position, specialized experience involves a background in microeconomics (applied or theoretical) and/or econometrics. Applied microeconomics fields include industrial organization and others, such as labor, transportation, urban, or environmental. For candidates with applied microeconomics qualifications, specialized experience also includes the application of appropriate estimation methods to the analysis of large data sets. Specialized experience involves research and/or analysis of consumer or firm behavior under varying market structure conditions. Candidates will have undertaken research and/or analysis that require considerable planning and coordination and will have demonstrated an ability to work on a number of complex projects simultaneously.  Prior experience should include the full range of responsibilities, from initiation of the investigation and design of the economic research methodology, through the interpretation of findings and preparation of a final report. As independent professionals responsible for each step of the investigative process, economists are expected to be accountable for the thoroughness of their research and the validity of their interpretations and conclusions.

AND

B. Specialized Experience:  

GS-15: In order to be deemed as qualified, candidates must demonstrate one year of specialized experience which is equivalent to at least the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized experience is defined as follows:

1) Relevant independent microeconomics research,

or

2) Direction of graduate theses in microeconomics,

or

3) Service as a consultant or advisor on technical applied or theoretical microeconomics problems.

The level of experience in the economic field of microeconomics is demonstrated by experience such as: candidates have at least three credited publications in peer-reviewed journals or have made significant contributions to three or more publications in peer-reviewed journals and/or have supervised research and/or thesis work of graduate economists in microeconomics and/or have played a lead role in analysis used in agency policy-making involving microeconomic analysis.

PART-TIME OR UNPAID EXPERIENCE: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.