Research Associate – Immigration Policy at Cato Institute – Washington, District of Columbia

The Cato Institute is seeking a Research Associate to join a team of data-driven researchers working on immigration policy. The Research Associate will be responsible for using statistical methods to support the work of Cato’s immigration team in producing original empirical research. This position will help produce original work in multiple formats, ranging from working papers to quantitative work for blog posts, op-eds, research briefs, and policy analyses.

The Research Associate will be an integral part of the immigration team’s workflow and will occasionally co-author pieces with other members of the team. The Research Associate will report to the Associate Director of Immigration Studies and work with policy staff to brainstorm and potentially spearhead new research projects related to immigration.

This is a hybrid position in Washington, DC.

The starting salary for the Research Associate position is $57,000.

About Cato

The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization—a think tank—dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.

Founded in 1977, Cato owes its name to Cato’s Letters, a series of essays published in 18th-century England that presented a vision of a society free from excessive government power. Those essays inspired the architects of the American Revolution. And the simple, timeless principles of that revolution — individual liberty, limited government, and free markets – turn out to be even more powerful in today’s world of global markets and unprecedented access to information than Jefferson or Madison could have imagined. Social and economic freedom is not just the best policy for a free people, it is the indispensable framework for the future.

The Cato Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Responsibilities

• Support the research of the senior members of the immigration team (80-90%) as well as other departments on an as-needed basis (10-20%). Roughly half of the Research Associate’s work will be for short-term day-to-day projects; the other half will be for longer-term projects.
• Gather, clean, and format datasets from numerous sources, such as the Current Population Survey, American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and others.
• Help prepare presentable statistical output in the form of figures and tables for other members of the Cato team.
• Efficiently and accurately proofread or update policy reports, blog posts, and other written content.
• Replicate statistical findings from academic research, policy analyses and government reports.
• Potentially co-author policy analyses, working papers, blog posts, and other empirical work with members of the Cato immigration team.

Education and Experience

• A bachelor's in economics, statistics, data science, or any field that requires strong quantitative skills. An advanced degree is preferred.
• A prior internship or work experience with references.
• Prior work with statistics.
• Prior academic or non-academic writing experience.
• Familiarity with two or more software packages or programming languages used for data analysis (such as Excel, Stata, R, Python, MATLAB, etc.).
• Familiarity with Census survey microdata is a plus.
• An understanding of and interest in Cato’s libertarian mission and immigration policy.

Skills

• Strong organizational skills, including the ability to work on multiple tasks both independently and as part of a team on a time-sensitive basis.
• A commitment to accuracy and precision.
• Strong writing and editing skills.

How to Apply

Please submit the following materials:

• CV/Resume. Cover letter optional.
• A code sample or code project in Stata, Python, Julia, or R.
• One writing sample that shows your research skills (research reports, working papers, peer-reviewed articles, dissertations, data memos, blog posts, etc.)
• A brief coding test will be conducted during the screening interview.

Benefits

All Cato employees are provided with:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Employer contribution to a Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Generous vacation and sick days
• Paid parental leave
• Employer-provided life and disability insurance
• 401(k) employer match
• Transit/ Parking benefits
• Pet discount plan

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. This position does not offer visa sponsorship.