Career Options for Statistics Majors

The online Occupational Outlook Handbook for 2010-11 states that projected growth in employment of statisticians will be average with an increase of 13% through 2018.

However, job opportunities should remain favorable for individuals with degrees in statistics, although many of these positions will not carry the explicit job title statistician.

The knowledge of a stats major can be applied to numerous subject areas such as biology, economics, engineering, medicine, public health, psychology, marketing, and education for performing a variety of duties from sampling to aiding in product quality control.

Therefore, job descriptions may use such titles as Business, Data, Risk, or Quality Analyst or Investigator, Researcher, or Project Manager.

Those seeking jobs with the official title "Statistician" should realize that the master's degree is the general employer's minimum requirement, except for the Federal Government which requires a bachelor's degree with at least 15 credit hours of stats or a combination of 15 hours of math and stats.

A strong computer skills base is highly recommended in our techno-based society. Additional training or coursework is recommended in areas applicable to a particular field of interest, such as economics and business administration classes for employment in market research or business analysis.

Professional Careers for Statisticians

• Actuary
• Mathematician
• Operations Research Analyst
• Computer Systems Analyst
• Computer Programmer
• Engineer
• Economist
• Financial Analyst
• Information Scientist
• Life Scientist
• Physical Scientis
• Social Scientist

Careers As An . . . Can Be Found In . . .

ACTUARY

• Insurance Companies
• Life, Health, Casualty
• Consulting Firms
• Universities
• Labor Unions
• Government Agencies
• Social Security Administration
• IRS
• Public Health Service
• Department of Defense
• Veterans Administration
• U.S. Treasury Department

STATISTICIAN

• Biometrician
• Econometrician
• Biostatistician
• Epidemiologist
• Geostatistician
• Survey Statistician
• Market Researcher
• Population Modeler
• Private Industry
• Manufacturing, Finance/ Insurance/ Pharmaceutical Companies
• Federal, State, or Local Governmen
• Depts. of Commerce, Health, Human Services, Agriculture, Defense, or Labor
• National Bureau of Standards
• Bureau of Census
• Labor Statistics
• National Institute of Health
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Centers for Disease Control
• National Center for Health Statistics
• Food and Drug Administration

EARNINGS

Median annual earnings of statisticians in 2008 = $102.8K.

National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) in 2009:
Bachelor’s degree = $50.4k
Master's degree = $58.2K
Doctorate degree = $70.2K
Federal Government in 2009: In managerial, supervisory, non-supervisory positions = $92.3K

WEB SITES OF INTEREST

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• American Statistical Association  
• American Mathematical Society
• Association for Women in Mathematics
• Institute for Operations Research and the Management
• Mathematical Association of America
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
• Society of Actuaries
• Study Abroad Scholarships, Fellowships, and Postdoctoral Awards
• Federal Grants
• Free Scholarship Info
• More Free Information
• Scholarships for International Study