U.S. Small Business Administration

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Office of Advocacy

The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration is the small business watchdog of the federal government. The office examines the role of small business in the economy and presents their views to federal agencies, Congress, and the White House. The office is the source for small business research and statistics, and it funds research into small business economic issues.

Office of Economic Research (OER)

OER is currently looking for a Research Economist. Research economists conduct research documenting the importance of small businesses to the United States economy and assess economic and policy issues of relevance to small firms and their owners. Candidates with doctoral degrees in Economics are preferred but both master’s and doctoral candidates with applied economics experience are encouraged to apply.

Research Economist responsibilities include:

• Communicating authoritative analyses to senior leadership of Advocacy and/or outside constituents on economic issues salient to small businesses
• Conducting independent research, creating research topics for, and/or coordinating the work of research contractors
• Creating economic research products such as research reports, research summaries, data tabulations, fact sheets, talking points, and briefing papers
• Disseminating research results by presenting at briefings and conferences, providing testimony, etc.
• Working independently or with other economists on a wide-breadth of self-conceptualized small business research issues publishable through the Office of Advocacy and/or in academic journals.

Required skills for the Research Economist include:

• Strong analytic, research, and methodological skills
• Strong understanding of economic concepts and their application to policy
• Ability to obtain, analyze, and interpret diverse information from complex data sources
• Experience with statistical and presentation software including Stata, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Applicants should send a resume and cover letter to Natalyn Tart at natalyn.tart@sba.gov, with ‘Research Economist’ in the subject line.