A study compiled by the American Statistical Association (ASA) found that statistics is one of the fastest-growing degrees currently in the US. High demand for statisticians in the consumer products, healthcare, technology, government and manufacturing areas of the economy, however, might not be met despite the rise in statistics degrees.
Bachelor's degrees in statistics rose 17% from 2013 to 2014, based on data released by the National Center for Education Studies. Since the 1990s, undergraduate degrees in statistics skyrocketed by more than 300%, seeing 15 consecutive years of amazing growth.
Although the persistent growth of degrees in statistics over the years has been strong, the demand will continue to exceed supply. In a 2011 report, McKinsey Global Institute stated, "Significant constraint on realizing value from Big Data will be a shortage of talent, particularly of people with deep expertise in statistics and machine learning." They forecast that the workforce by 2018, with deep analytical skills, will be short conceivably by 140,000-190,000 skilled employees. They also cautioned that there would also be a substantial absence of managers and analysts who can utilize and interpret the output of Big Data in their day-to-day decision making.
New era of data growth
ASA Pres. David R. Morganstein explains: "We're entering an era of tremendous growth in the profession of statistics that is not unlike the growth of computing professionals in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, software engineers and programmers were still relatively rare, but grew quickly and steadily as computing became something every large company needed to remain competitive. We're seeing a similar trajectory in statistics. Advances in computing, technology, and Big Data continue to raise the demand for statisticians."
Many colleges and universities are accelerating their statistics programs to accommodate this rapid surge in enrollment for statistics degrees. Students see the adaptability of a statistics degree for the vast array of careers ranging from health, data science, finance, and technology.
Data growth and usage can be accounted for by the newest computing technologies available for Big Data to come into fruition. Big Data is a term for huge or intricate data sets that outdated data processing applications couldn't accomplish. Gathering of data sets are rapidly expanding because of the ability to collect the data in different capabilities than just from the computer or network. Many can use mobile devices, remote sensing, software logs, cameras, wireless sensor networks, radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers, and software logs which are now cheaper to acquire.
Big Data in oil and gas
The oil and natural gas industry has long dealt with the need of large magnitude of data needed to make informed and technical decisions to get the oil and gas flowing. Now with the use of remote devices or sensors in the field, producers can obtain real-time sensitive information, at a lower cost, to improve oil field, plant, or pipeline performance. The advancement in new analytical tools as well as advanced storage capacities has enabled this process to be more advantageous.
Bain & Co. surveyed more than 400 business executives in many industry sectors and "revealed that companies with better analytical capabilities were twice as likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance in their industry, five times more likely to make decisions faster than their peers, and three times more likely to execute decisions as planned."
Bain also surveyed that only 4% of companies from various industries have the analytical aptitude to use the advanced Big Data information. Oil and gas companies have been collecting massive amounts of information but without the ability to properly interpret geological, engineering, production, and equipment data sets, one won't be able to make informed, fast-paced decisions. Thus, the greater need for more statisticians.
Laura Bell-Hammer | Statistics Editor
Laura Bell-Hammer has been the Statistics Editor for the Oil & Gas Journal since 1994. She was the Survey Editor for two years prior to her current position with OGJ. While working with OGJ, she also was a contributing editor for Oil & Gas Financial Journal. Before joining OGJ, she worked for Vintage Petroleum in Tulsa, gaining her oil and gas industry knowledge.
