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Actuaries

15-2011.00 Bright Outlook Bright

Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits. May ascertain insurance rates required and cash reserves necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.

What education do people in this job actually have?

O*NET incumbent survey (2024)
Bachelor's degree 79% Graduate degree 21%

How EWU courses prepare you for this work (3 of 15 O*NET tasks have course evidence)

Investigate properties of a statistical estimator based on characteristics of bias, efficiency, consistency and sufficiency

  • Apply non-parametric statistical tests
  • Interpret output from statistical software correctly

Calculate the probabilities and expected values associated to functions of multiple variables

State the chain rule in terms of rate of change

Recent regional postings for this occupation

View all 349 postings from the last year →

5 most recent CareerOneStop listings for this occupation. "Live" in Quick Facts counts only postings the scraper re-confirmed in the last 7 days; older real postings still appear here until they age out.

Where to focus your applied learning (12 taskes without course evidence yet)

These O*NET tasks don't have direct course-objective evidence in the Math BS catalog yet. Each is an opportunity to gain hands-on preparation through an applied project, MAA-sponsored partnership, elective, or internship. The Math BS applied-projects page has examples of project-driven learning that could close these kinds of gaps.

More O*NET details for this occupation (skills, knowledge, tools & technology)
Skills (42)
Basic Skills: Active Learning
Basic Skills: Active Listening
Basic Skills: Critical Thinking
Basic Skills: Learning Strategies
Basic Skills: Mathematics
Basic Skills: Monitoring
Basic Skills: Reading Comprehension
Basic Skills: Science
Basic Skills: Speaking
Basic Skills: Writing
+ 32 more on O*NET
Knowledge (5)
Computers and Electronics
Economics and Accounting
English Language
Law and Government
Mathematics
Tools & technology (30)
Analytical or scientific software: IBM SPSS Statistics
Analytical or scientific software: Insightful S-PLUS
Analytical or scientific software: SAS
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical software
Analytical or scientific software: Wolfram Research Mathematica
Business intelligence and data analysis software: Microsoft Power BI
Business intelligence and data analysis software: Qlik Tech QlikView
Business intelligence and data analysis software: Tableau
Data base user interface and query software: Microsoft Access
Data base user interface and query software: Microsoft SQL Server

O*NET's tools-and-technology list aggregates software encountered across the occupation's many sub-roles, so the list can be broad. Treat it as a directory of what people in this job might use, not a checklist of what every job requires.

Where this data comes from. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills, and education-incumbents survey come from the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET 30.2. Washington-state pay and employment projections come from WA Employment Security Department and the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Live job postings come from CareerOneStop, refreshed nightly from a scrape that tracks the original posting date and the date our system last saw each posting live.

How we connect courses to occupations. Course catalog descriptions and program-level learning outcomes are indexed alongside O*NET task statements. Where a course's language aligns with a task an occupation requires, we mark it as evidence of preparation. Faculty review each candidate match and either confirm or veto it; only confirmed matches surface in totals.

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