There
is a huge place for statistician jobs in all over the world. Think back to when you
last heard the unemployment rate. Though the news was likely concerning, you
probably didn’t consider all the work that went into producing that statistic.
Yet the behind-the-scenes analysis that produces usable statistics is vital to
making crucial decisions in the private and public sectors. And the people who
conduct it—statisticians—are in high demand.
Crunching numbers may not sound like the stuff of dream jobs, but industries
across the board need statisticians to analyze the ocean of data that
technology has put at our fingertips. “The Internet and more sophisticated
computers have allowed us to collect and organize so much data that we’ve
outpaced our vision for what to do with it,” says Sally Morton,
president of the American Statistical Association (ASA).
Because of the availability of data and the ease with which it can be
collected, companies are eager to put it to good use. “You hear about evidence-based
medicine and science-based policy,” says Alicia Carriquiry, director of
graduate studies at Iowa State University’s statistics department. “Those
things require data collection and interpretation, and statisticians can do
that.”
Companies are so bent on hiring people who can add it all up that the current
pipeline for statisticians can’t meet the demand. “We know based on data from the
National Science Foundation that hiring needs are bigger than the number of
graduates we’re turning out,” says Morton. Echoing this shortage,
Carriquiry says her graduates “have their pick of jobs, with typically two
or three offers, even in this pathetic economy.”
The Science of Statistics
Statisticians does more than just
churn out unemployment numbers. They design research, formulate results, and
turn those results into meaningful information that non-statisticians can use.
Statistics also predict outcomes using data from the past. Almost every
industry employs data analysts—from marketing to environmental science—and the
work, though not always visible, has a big impact. The following are a few
industries that have seen an increased need for statisticians: ]
1. Government
The government is one of the largest
employers of statisticians, with a need to fill a variety of functions, from
studying crime patterns at The Department of Justice to analyzing traffic
congestion at The Department of Transportation. The U.S. Census Bureau will
also need statisticians to turn out and analyze the nation’s demographics for
the 2010 Census. The information will affect policies in areas, such as
education and infrastructure, and determine how many representatives each state
sends to the House of Representatives.
2. Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare
As the pharmaceutical industry
grows, so does the need for statisticians to design clinical trials, collect
information about drugs’ effects, and test thousands of chemical compounds to
find which ones cure which ailments. Bioinformatics, which uses biological
data, such as gene sequences to solve medical problems, is another growing area
in healthcare that needs statisticians.
3. Manufacturing
Here statisticians work in quality
control and design. Green energy manufacturing is especially important. “If you
want to design a wind turbine, you need to figure out what direction it should
be pointing in and how long the rotors should be,” says Carriquiry. “A
statistician can predict where the wind is going to come from and what strength
it is going to have using information from the past.”
4. Business
In today’s frugal climate,
statisticians play an important role because they can help businesses predict
which products will be successful and what marketing will work. They can also
act as actuaries, determining and managing risk for financial services and
insurance companies.
