Economist/Statistician

Economist/Statistician

Job #:
req19637

Organization:
World Bank

Sector:
Economics

Grade:
GF

Term Duration:
3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment

Location:
Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s):
English

Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date:
11/8/2022 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

The Jobs Group is a Cross Cutting Solutions Area (CCSA), based in the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, which is charged with leading the Bank's work on the jobs agenda, in close collaboration with the appropriate Global Practices (GPs) under the technical supervision of the Jobs Steering Committee (JSC), which is composed of Global Directors from 10 GPs and the IFC. The Jobs Group also houses one specialized partnership, which brings together the WBG, donors and private or not-for-profit actors to address jobs challenges: Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE).

About the position:

The Jobs Group is looking to recruit an Economist/Statistician (GF) for the World Bank Office in Washington D.C., to support the further development of the recently-created Global Labor Database (GLD), which has replaced the old International Income Distribution Database (I2D2).

The Economist/Statistician will report to the Jobs Group Manager.

Duties and Expected Outputs

The Economist/ Statistician will:
• Obtain and harmonize household survey data using the World Bank's GLD survey harmonization protocol. This will involve identifying, collecting and harmonizing Labor Force Surveys and other relevant household surveys in coordination with the Poverty Global Practice. The goal is to expand the existing GLD survey data repository from 12 countries to at least 60 countries over the next three years. This will also involve and integrating data from the Poverty GP's Global Monitoring Database 9which is based on Living Standards Measurement Surveys). • Perform data quality checks. The Economist/Statistician will supervise consultants to apply the World Bank q-check methodology on the micro-data level as well as on the level of jobs indicators (in parallel to Jobs Diagnostic output generation, see next).• Maintain the online GLD survey repository for WB staff access. This will involve the maintenance and regular updating of the online GLD central survey repository and the provision of survey access through WB staff through the current technical solution (sever datalibweb). The updates will include improvements to the harmonization of surveys as well as changes to the variable definitions over time. • Run standardized Jobs Diagnostic Labor Market supply side tools on the survey data. Based on validated and harmonized survey data, the Economist /Statistican will run the Jobs Diagnostic tools for household survey data and file the outputs in a dedicated repository as well in the Global Jobs Indicators database (JOIN).• Identify comparator and aspirational countries for country benchmarking. Using the World Bank methodologies on the identification of comparator and aspirational countries, the Economist / Statistician will perform country benchmarks of Jobs Diagnostic outputs for comparator and aspirational countries. • Interpret Jobs Diagnostic results. Following the generation of standardized Jobs Diagnostic outputs for a country over time and in comparison, the Economist will provide summary ("storyline") slides for labor supply-side and macro-economic analysis. If requested and data permitting, this will also include firm-level ('demand-side' analysis). The Economist / Statistician will also liaise with colleagues for comprehensive Jobs Diagnostic interpretations.• Contribute to the development of jobs indicators, data processing protocols, as well as data standards and variable definitions to enlarge and improve the global repository of jobs data. In coordination with World Bank efforts e.g. in DEC's LSMS team, the Gender Group, and the Poverty GP but also external partners such as the ILO, a further development of this task will ensure that the base for Jobs Diagnostic going forward will remain updated and reliable. It will incorporate the application of the changing definitions of work and employment following the 19th International Conference of Labor Statisticians (ICLS).• Maintain and expand the Jobs Diagnostic tools for country-level Jobs Diagnostics and Global repositories. This will involve the expansion of standardized tools to a wider set of data types such as panel, cross-seasonal, spatial, or census data.• Develop future Jobs Diagnostic online tool. The Economist / statistician will further develop the online tool for providing practitioners of Jobs Diagnostics with instant and customizable access to analytical outputs on jobs. This generates STATA and spreadsheet (MS Excel) based Jobs Diagnostic outputs and is linked to the Global Jobs Indicator database (JOIN) through an online interface that dynamically generates Jobs Diagnostic outputs as per user queries ('statistics online'). • Provide training. To expand the pool of users of Jobs Diagnostic Tools and demonstrate the use of jobs indicators to a wider audience, the Economist / statistician will develop training material on Jobs Diagnostics and deliver dedicated workshops.• Work with consultants for harmonization and analytical support. For larger projects, the Economist / Statistician will work with consultants on the joint harmonization and analysis and ensure the quality and timeliness of the work.

The Economist / Statistician's outputs will be in two distinct areas each taking about 50 percent of the staff time:
• Country specific technical work: They will clean, validate, harmonize, perform quality checks and then process and interpret household survey and macro level data as a contribution to country analytic work as assigned by Jobs Group TTLs. Based on the harmonized household level and macro data, the key deliverables for each country are; (i) standardized jobs indicators which would be added to the global Jobs Indicators (JOIN) database; (ii) a full set of tables, charts and regressions for use in the country jobs diagnostic; (iii) slides for presentations with a storyline on the findings of the labor market supply-side as well as macro-economic findings from the Jobs Diagnostic.
• Cross-country or global level statistics, analytics and training: the Economist / Statistican will: (a) harmonize and process household survey data from the World Bank's Global Monitoring or Global Labor Databases (previously International Income Distribution Database (I2D2)) for past years as available, so as to maintain a global Jobs Indicators database; (b) support the Jobs Group's multi-country analysis and research in economic transformation, human capital, labor mobility, and waged employment, (c) support analysis of jobs and growth using the episodes data base, and (d) provide support the delivery of training and presentation material for workshops and dissemination events in the use of Jobs Diagnostics standardized analysis. Training material should be understandable by a general audience.

The outputs provided by the Economist / Statistician should satisfy high standards in terms of quality, accuracy, and timeliness. He / she will provide all data and computer scripts used in the analysis along with their documentation.

Selection Criteria
• A Master's degree (or higher) in Economics, Statistics or a related field • A minimum of five years of relevant experience, or a combination of education and experience • Strong technical, operational and analytical skills• Familiarity with World Bank procedures, operations directives and experience in World Bank operations • Ability to share technical knowledge and expertise and to work in a team environment with multiple priorities and tight deadlines• Excellent written and verbal communications skills• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work sensitively in multi-cultural environments.• Flexibility, adaptability and willingness to undertake new tasks as required.

Technical competencies
• Comprehensive experience with labor market data statistical analysis and econometrics. • Strong background in using and interpreting the results of analytical statistics tools and programs such as STATA, MATLAB, or R and, ideally, experience with designing and conducting or using household surveys.• Knowledge of programming in Python, Visual Basic Script or HTML are a plus. • Preference will be given to candidates who have field experience working on statistical challenges in development country settings. Preference will also be given to candidates who published in academic journals and/or conducted research on topics in development economics or data science, particularly on issues related to labor markets using household survey or firm level data.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

This internal requisition is open to WBG andIMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case anexternal candidate applies, their application will not be considered.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

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