IOWA DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES –

HUMAN RESOURCES ENTERPRISE

 

CLASSIFICATION GUIDELINES

 

LABOR MARKET RESEARCH ECONOMIST

 

CLASSES IN THE SERIES

 

Class Code

Class Title

 

 

00870

Labor Market Research Economist 1

00871

Labor Market Research Economist 2

00872

Labor Market Research Economist 3

 

SERIES CONCEPT

Only the Iowa Department of Workforce Development uses this series. Positions perform professional level work in the application of statistical theories, techniques and methods in the collection, analysis and interpretation of labor market/economic data.  Typical duties include the following:

1)           gathering and evaluating labor market/economic insurance data;

2)           developing forms, questionnaires and writing data gathering instructions/guidelines;

3)           composing narrative reports and related charts, graphs and tables;

4)           analyzing/explaining employment patterns, public attitudes and economic trends;

5)           Use statistical methods(i.e., correlation analysis, significance testing, regression modes, etc.) to explain changes or answer questions regarding the labor market.

6)           Use statistical software programs (i.e., SAS, SPSS); and geographical information software )GIS) (i.e., ARCGIS) to illustrate labor market trends;

7)           Update website with current labor market and economic trends;

8)           Calculating local office placement goals, staffing levels budgets and output information.

EXCLUSIONS

Positions that perform professional level work gathering, compiling, analyzing and reporting statistical data for agencies other than Iowa Workforce Development should be considered for classification in the Statistical Research Analyst series.

CLASS DISTINCTIONS

Labor Market Research Economist 1

Positions in this class perform professional labor market/economic research duties in a training and limited performance capacity and initially work under close supervision.

Labor Market Research Economist 2

Positions in this class perform professional labor market research duties in a full performance capacity using the prescribed methodology of the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA).

Labor Market Research Economist 3

Positions in this class perform professional labor market/economic research duties, planning, coordinating, and developing labor market research projects.  They also perform advanced level technical/analytical work compiling, evaluating, and analyzing data and interpret labor market/economic trends and implications and disseminate to various customers.  Examples of “advanced level technical/analytical work” include the following:

  • Use of input from various data sources (e.g., BLS, ETA and Bureau of Census programs) provided the Department of Economic Development and higher education with in-depth analysis of region outlining strategies for enhancing the area, including value-added industries, industry cluster analysis, occupational and skill shortages, etc.
  • Evaluation of business expansion, relocation or start-up in Iowa by analyzing the dynamics of a location that would provide profitable advantages for business, including data analysis of training, education, workforce skills, advanced infrastructure, abundant raw materials and business friendly policies that would allow for profitable growth.
  • Participation in advanced research projects which create new products or value-added opportunities for Iowa’s industries and higher wages (i.e., Older Iowan’s Research, Iowa Size of Firm Research, Regional Profiles, SUTA Dumping, Characteristics of Industries/Industries Experiencing Layoff and Women Workers  Research).
  • Creation/maintenance of claimant cost model for Unemployment Insurance using advanced forecast modeling to analyze complex databases for industry/occupational projections (i.e., trend analysis, ordinary least squares, autoregressive-moving average, vector and Bayesian vector autoregressive).  Use model evaluation techniques for testing forecasts (i.e., R square, Durbin Watson statistic, regression coefficients, t-ratios, standard error, Theil U and Box-Q)
  • Write articles for quarterly publication, annual reports, LMI internet and professional groups and appointment to the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.
  • Ability to synthesize/analyze data from many different types of data sources/programs (i.e., Bureau of Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unemployment Benefits/Claimants/Tax, Employment and Training Administration) and use forecasting models for Unemployment Insurance, Trust Fund balance/solvency, Unemployment recipients, Unemployment benefits and projected benefit costs.

 

Effective:      2/06    JG