Lauren Ford (Class 1999) – the face behind Australia’s monthly unemployment statistics

Have you ever wanted a career in statistics? Lauren Ford (Class of 1999) was recently interviewed by Sue White from the Sydney Morning Herald.

Lauren has spent the past twelve years working at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, most recently on its Labour Force survey which produces Australia’s monthly unemployment statistics.

‘That’s a main economic indicator for the Australian economy. It’s used to inform decisions on interest rates, it moves the markets … it’s really rewarding to work on something that’s so widely used,’ she says.

SMH reported that Lauren has an ‘I love spreadsheets’ coffee mug and was taught Pi to 20 digits and the Fibonacci sequence by her father as a kid, but for Lauren Ford it’s not only the numbers that keep her excited about a career in statistics.

Lauren said that the job involves more than its fair share of processing and analysis, but there’s more to it.

Lauren also enjoys the writing side of it and telling stories. Lauren said ‘gone are the days where a statistician just looks at numbers or equations. I think a successful statistician in today’s world not only has to understand numbers but have the skills to explain those to an audience that may not necessarily share that love of numbers’.

We decided to catch up with Lauren to ask her if she had always wanted a career in Stats? She told us that she can’t dance or sing…so stats was the next best thing.

Statistics is traditionally a male dominated industry, but Lauren says she has received great support over the years from mentors, colleagues and friends. She notes that ‘while it is not unusual for me to be one of the only women in the room, I have never felt disadvantaged in my career. For me it is more about building a reputation based on your professional performance and earning respect from my fellow colleagues in the Industry’.

Her advice for people looking at a career in this field is to go for it! But she reminded us it’s not all about numbers; it’s about drawing the story out and putting together a picture of the changing world we live in.

Lauren recalls her time at Radford fondly, ‘getting to hang out with your friends all day every day – what a great stage in life!’