A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
public sector
The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...
s.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may work as employees or as statistical consultants.
Overview
According to the United States
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the government of the United States, U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics, labor economics and ...
, as of 2014, 26,970 jobs were classified as ''statistician'' in the United States. Of these people, approximately 30 percent worked for governments (federal, state, or local). As of October 2021, the median pay for statisticians in the United States was $92,270.
Additionally, there is a substantial number of people who use statistics and data analysis in their work but have job titles other than ''statistician'', such as actuaries, applied mathematicians,
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
data analyst
Data analysis is the process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, e ...
s (
predictive analytics
Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of Statistics, statistical techniques from data mining, Predictive modelling, predictive modeling, and machine learning that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or other ...
),
financial analyst
A financial analyst is a professional undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job.
psychometricians, sociologists,
epidemiologist
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases.
It is a cornerstone ...
profession
A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...
s in various national and international occupational classifications.
In many countries, including the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, employment in the field requires either a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in statistics or a related field or a
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
.
According to one industry professional, "Typical work includes collaborating with
scientists
A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...
, providing mathematical modeling, simulations, designing randomized experiments and randomized sampling plans, analyzing experimental or survey results, and forecasting future events (such as sales of a product)."
According to the BLS, "Overall employment grow 33% from 2016 to 2026, much faster than average for all occupations. Businesses will need these workers to analyze the increasing volume of digital and electronic data." In October 2021, the CNBC rated it the fastest growing job in science and technology of the next decade, with a projected growth rate of 35.40%.
See also
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List of statisticians
This list of statisticians lists people who have made notable contributions to the theories or application of statistics, or to the related fields of probability or machine learning. It includes the founders of statistics and others. It includes ...
Data science
Data science is an interdisciplinary academic field that uses statistics, scientific computing, scientific methods, processing, scientific visualization, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge from potentially noisy, stru ...
Statistician
A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors.
It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...