Junior economist

Update: Please note the amendment to the closing date.

Important messages

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Assessment accommodation

AAFC is committed to diversity and inclusion and is proud to be recognized as one of Canada’s best diversity employers. We welcome all applicants and strongly encourage candidates to self-declare if they belong to an Employment Equity designated group (i.e. Aboriginal Peoples, Persons with Disabilities, Visible Minorities or Women).

Applicants must clearly demonstrate in the screening questions on their application that they meet all the following essential criteria. Failure to do so may result in the rejection of your application.

Duties

Agriculture and Environmental Policy Analysis (AEPA) Positions: The AEPA unit provides economic policy analysis on departmental priorities, including improving the sector’s environmental performance, increasing economic opportunities, and accelerating the development and adoption of innovative technologies. AEPA develops and maintains a large-scale partial equilibrium model for the analysis of policy scenarios related to climate change, shifts in market structure, and other current trends affecting the agriculture sector from the national level to the sub-provincial level.

Economic Market Analysis (EMA) Positions: The EMA unit undertakes quantitative and qualitative analysis using partial equilibrium dynamic models to analyse major trends and shifts that arise in the Canadian and global agriculture and agri-food markets. EMA develops AAFC’s Medium Term Outlook of Canadian and global agricultural markets that identifies the key factors that will influence the sector going forward and aide in the development of the priorities and strategic direction of the Department.

Forecasting and Program Analysis (FPA) Positions: The FPA unit conducts economic and program analysis using farm-level administrative data and various microsimulation models to estimate how different program options affect producers and their financial performance. FPA also produces the department’s Farm-Level Farm Income Forecast that provides an outlook of the sector’s overall financial performance and used for related policy and scenario analysis.

Agri-Food Support, Measurement and Analysis (ASMA) Positions: The ASMA unit measures and analyzes the government support to the agriculture and agri-food sector. The unit also undertakes quantitative analysis using the Policy Evaluation Model (PEM), a static and partial equilibrium model. This model used policy characteristics affecting producer decision reported in the Producer Support Estimate (PSE) and measures the policy impact on production, welfare, farm incomes, consumption, trade and environment.

Farm Income and Inputs (FII) positions: The FII unit conducts two forecasts of farm income a year to assess the short term economic outlook for primary agriculture. The forecasts make use of market data to estimate cash receipts and expenses, and ultimately various measures of income, which are then used to support the development of the farm level forecast, the program payment forecast, and feed into Statistics Canada to support their work to estimate farm income and the agriculture sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). FII also does scenario analysis on potential issues which could impact the current outlook for agriculture.

Work environment

Successful candidate(s) for AEPA positions will be responsible for developing and running economic models and undertaking economic research and quantitative analysis on a range of environmental and agricultural issues including carbon pricing, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental management practices.

Successful candidate(s) for EMA positions will be responsible for modelling and analytical work including developing medium term supply, demand, trade and price projections for key agricultural sectors both domestically and internationally.

Successful candidate(s) for FPA positions will carry out quantitative economic analysis to support priorities such as AAFC’s AgriStability and AgriInvest Program Expenditure and Farm-Level Farm Income Forecasts and related analysis.

Successful candidate(s) for ASMA position will carry out quantitative economic analysis to evaluate the impact of agricultural programs/policies on the sector and work in collaboration with analysts in other units to provide a more complete policy and scenario analysis.

Successful candidate(s) for FII positions will carry out economic and market analysis in support of the farm income forecast, as well as contributing to broader departmental analysis as it related to their area of responsibility.

Successful candidates for all positions will respond to requests from internal and external clients using sound economic principles. Requests can take many forms including but not limited to: data and information requests, briefing materials, technical reports, scenario analyses or notes, market analysis, etc.

Intent of the process

A pool of qualified candidates may be established and used to staff similar positions at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada with various tenures (Deployment, Indeterminate), various security requirements (reliability, secret) and/or various linguistic requirements (bilingual imperative BBB/BBB, English essential, French essential, English or French essential).

Should candidates demonstrate qualifications consistent with a higher level position (e.g. EC-03), they may be considered for appointment at that level.

Positions to be filled: 4

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

Contact information for 2 references.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

EDUCATION
Master’s degree from a recognized post-secondary institution in economics, agricultural economics, statistics, engineering, computer science or similarly quantitative specialization.

IF YOU HAVE FOREIGN CREDENTIALS, please follow the link below for information on how to obtain a degree equivalency. You must obtain an equivalency, at your own expense, in order to be considered for appointment into the public service.

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
Experience writing programming code to perform advanced manipulation of quantitative data.

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

ASSET EXPERIENCE
Experience using SAS, STATA, TROLL, GAMS, or Oracle.
Experience developing and running detailed economic models.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements
English Essential ;
French Essential ;
Bilingual imperative BBB/BBB ;
English or French essential.

Information on language requirements

KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge of economic or statistical principles, practices, techniques, tools and/or methods used to carry out economic analysis.

COMPETENCIES
• Analytical Thinking
• Interactive Communication
• Teamwork
• Initiative
• Adaptability
• Writing Skills
• Judgement

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

ASSET KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge of the Canadian agriculture sector.

Conditions of employment

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Secret or reliability security clearance
Ability and willingness to work overtime
Ability and willingness to travel
Availability and willingness to relocate to the National Capital Region (NCR)

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

ASSESSEMENT INFORMATION

You must meet all essential qualifications in order to be appointed to the position. Other qualifications may be a deciding factor in choosing the person to be appointed. Some essential and other qualifications will be assessed through your application. It is your responsibility to provide appropriate examples that illustrate how you meet each qualification. Failing to do so could result in your application being rejected.

Various assessment tools may be used, such as, standardized tests, interviews, references, board member knowledge, etc.

All communication relating to this process, including email correspondence may be used in the assessment of qualifications.

A random or top down selection of candidates may be used in the determination of those to be given further consideration in the assessment process.

Appointment decisions may be based on one or more of the following criteria:
- Matching of the individual's experience or qualifications to the strengths and weaknesses of the work team.
- Matching of the individual's experience or qualifications to the specific duties of the position being staffed.
- Depth, breadth, type of work-specific experience.
- Level/degree of one or more competencies/qualifications.

You must provide proof of your education credentials.

Asset qualifications may be used in the determination of those to be given further consideration in the assessment process.

APPLICATION & CORRESPONDENCE INFORMATION

Applications submitted by email will not be accepted. You must apply on-line through www.jobs.gc.ca.

Persons with disabilities preventing them from applying on-line are asked to contact the email referenced below under "Contact Information".

Persons are entitled to participate in the appointment process in the official language of their choice. Applicants are asked to indicate their preferred official language in their application.

Communication for this process will be sent via email. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure accurate contact information is provided and updated as required. Candidates who apply to this selection process should include an email address that accepts email from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email).

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.