My career

In an interview, Michael W. Horrigan, associate commissioner for the Office of Prices and Living Conditions at Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), talked about his career. Horrigan said he manages four survey programs: the Consumer Price Index, the Producer Price Index, the International Price Index, and the Consumer Expenditures Survey. He doesn't directly run any of those programs. His role is to think corporately in terms of planning, budgeting, and the efficient use of resources. When he was in 8th grade, he got a job that was almost ideal. He was a camp counselor helper in the morning, and in the afternoon he got to teach his own swimming classes. He was a math major, but he took as many economics classes as possible. At his next job, running the National Longitudinal Survey at BLS, it was his first foray into how to handle significant budget issues.