Economist
Job Title: Economist
Location: Remote
Organization: Burning Glass Institute
About Us
The Burning Glass Institute (BGI) is a leading labor-market research center dedicated to shaping the discourse on workforce trends, equity, and talent development. We conduct data-driven research to uncover dynamics in labor markets, worker mobility, and firm-level practices—research designed to influence policy, guide business decisions, and spark public debate.
Immediate Hiring
Start Date: We are hiring for immediate filling.
Please apply only if you are able to begin employment during 2025.
Overview
We are seeking a data-driven and intellectually curious Economist to join our research team.
This role involves leading and executing research on U.S. labor-market and education trends, worker mobility, talent development, and firm behavior.
You will design methodologies, analyze large-scale datasets, and develop insights that influence labor-market and education policy and practice.
This is a data- and code-intensive position working with millions of job postings, worker job histories, and official data from sources such as the BLS and Census.
Candidates who are eager to implement modern data-science and AI techniques to bear on economic questions will be especially well positioned to shape new research lines.
The position reports to the Chief Economist and offers substantial scope for thought leadership and growth.
Key Responsibilities
Research Design & Execution: Lead and manage complex research projects from ideation through execution, including methodology development, statistical modeling, and result interpretation. Exercise independent judgment in shaping research questions and proposing new approaches.
Methodology & Data AI Analysis: Develop empirical strategies to answer pressing labor-market questions; refine techniques to analyze worker and employer behavior.
Conduct robust quantitative analysis using Python (preferred) and/or R, SQL, and econometric/statistical methods.
Work with large, structured datasets in cloud-based environments (e.g., Snowflake).
Where appropriate, incorporate machine learning, natural language processing, and LLM-based APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) for text classification, clustering, and predictive modeling.
Insight Generation & Market Knowledge: Translate empirical findings into actionable insights for non-technical audiences through presentations, reports, briefs, and data visualizations. Monitor economic research and labor-market trends to contextualize findings and inspire new projects.
Teamwork & Collaboration: Collaborate closely with the Chief Economist, internal research team, project managers, and external partners in a remote, team-oriented environment.
Required Qualifications
Master’s degree in economics, quantitative social science, data science, or a similarly quantitative field.
Extensive experience with econometric analysis, data wrangling, and very large datasets.
Strong proficiency in Python (preferred) and/or R.
Demonstrated ability to independently design and execute research projects.
Experience interpreting and visualizing data for non-technical audiences.
Familiarity with public-use datasets such as those from the Census Bureau, BLS, or similar institutions.
Demonstrated interest in labor-market dynamics, economic policy, and workforce development.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
Ph.D. in economics or a related quantitative social science field, or 3+ years of relevant work experience.
Background in applied microeconomics, labor economics, personnel economics, education, or econometrics.
Familiarity with SQL and cloud-based environments such as Snowflake.
Experience with machine-learning or natural-language-processing techniques and with large-language-model APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) applied to text-rich or labor-market datasets.
Previous experience in applied research environments such as think tanks, policy institutes, research consultancies, international organizations, or academia.
Application Process
To apply, please send a CV/resume and a half-page outline detailing why you would be a good fit for BGI to research.hiring@burningglassinstitute.org with the subject line “BGI 2025 Economist.” We look forward to learning more about how your skills and interests align with the work of the Burning Glass Institute.