Research Associate-Fixed Term

Position Summary

The Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE) at Michigan State University seeks a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Scholar to assist with and contribute to economic research related to migration, domestic (i.e., within the United States) labor markets, and food production systems. 

The job duties require developing and administering farm surveys, downloading labor market data from publicly available sources, developing causal identifications strategies related to labor market analysis, cleaning and analyzing data, conducting literature reviews, drafting peer-reviewed manuscripts, and presenting findings to agricultural stakeholder groups. Additional responsibilities include conducting independent research and contributing to grant writing and mentorship of graduate students. 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.

Required Degree

Doctorate -Agricultural Economics

Minimum Requirements

• Understanding of current domestic farm labor policy issues.
• Demonstrated expertise in conducting agricultural stakeholder surveys, processing raw survey data into a usable format using statistical software programs, and analyzing data to perform causal inference using state-of-the-art empirical methods.
• Demonstrated record of publishing peer-reviewed academic and lay-style extension/outreach articles related to US agricultural labor markets.
• Familiarity with publicly available US food system labor market data sources and extensive experience acquiring and cleaning such data for empirical analyses.
• Proficiency in Stata, R, ArcGIS, and Qualtrics.

Desired Qualifications

• Dissertation work related to US farm labor markets and agricultural production activities.  
• Familiarity with the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Current Population Survey data site. 
• Familiarity with employment and earnings data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. 
• Experience working with large data sets that contain millions of observations.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills. 
• Ability to work independently and as part of a research team. 

Required Application Materials

Application Process: Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, research statement, and contact information for three references. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

Special Instructions

N/A

Review of Applications Begins On

12/01/2025

Website

https://www.canr.msu.edu/afre/

MSU Statement

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 160 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.