|
|
Careers in Economics |
|
|
1. Business Administration and Business Careers |
5. Government Careers |
|||
2. High School Teaching Careers |
6. Careers in International Organizations |
|||
3. Labor Union Careers |
7. Careers in Politics, Law, and Social Service |
|||
4. Research Organization Careers |
8. Thoughts about Graduate Work in Economics |
|||
Salaries for Graduates with a Baccalaureate Degree in Economics
Read
on!
|
||||
|
|
| Want to know how much you can earn with your bachelor's degree in economics? Click below on "Salaries for Graduates with a Baccalaureate Degree in Economics" to see what the U.S. Department of Commerce statistics say about salaries for holders of bachelor's degrees in economics. You'll discover that in comparison with other fields of study, economists are paid better. Want a career in economics? Click your mouse on any of the career
areas below. You can work all over the world and in many major cities here in the
United States. Go ahead. Get cooking! Click away! |
An economics major seeking employment in the business or business administration fields ought to examine two dozen career fields (arranged alphabetically below) based on his or her interests, training, and life experience:
| Accounting | Marketing (Sales Trainee) |
| Auditing | Market Research |
| Banking (Loan Officer) | Pricing Specialist |
| Budget Analysis | Production Control |
| Credit Analysis | Real Estate Sales |
| Economic Research and Forecasting | Sales Manager (Retail & Wholesale) |
| Financial Reporting (Newspapers) | Securities Analyst |
| Insurance Salesperson | Statistician |
| Investment Analysis | Stockbroker (Bonds, Stocks, Commodities) |
| Loan Officer (Credit Unions) | System Design, Analysis, & Programming |
| Management Trainee | Trust Administration & Planning |
| Manager (Food Franchise) |
In addition to the corporate world of private enterprise, you should consider federal
departments, and state and local governmental planning agencies mentioned below:
| Agriculture | Federal Reserve |
| Civil Aeronautics Board | Internal Revenue |
| Department of Interior | National Security Agency |
| Department of Justice | Social Security Administration |
| Energy |
State, county, and local governments provide job opportunities to those with economic degrees:
 | The attorney generals work on legal/economic problems like consumer fraud and anti-trust. |
| The states have planning and development departments that seek to attract industry and commerce to their areas of comparative advantage. |
| The states have departments of finance and taxation that concern themselves with revenues and disbursements. |
| The states have regulatory commissions for their respective public utilities that wrestle with the technical problems of setting prices and governing profits. |
| You might find yourself working for a state board of equalization or even a county tax
collector's office. |
| Criminal Justice | Hospital Administration |
| Education | Recreation |
| Environmental Control | Transportation |
| Housing | Waste Management |
Cities also have administrative interns - positions for which a background in public policy economics is highly desirable.
Responsibilities assigned to administrative interns include obtaining and analyzing facts pertinent to departmental operations or practice, developing recommendations for improvement, and reporting on findings and conclusions. Such internships provide additional life experience for coping with budgetary, legal, personnel, and human and natural resource constraints.
For those who want to use their economics degree directly, the Federal Government is
perhaps the largest employer. You may work in departments that include:
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) | Environmental Protection Agency |
| Commerce Department | Treasury Department |
| Department of Labor | U. S. General Services Administration |
| Agriculture | Financial | Labor |
| . Business | Fiscal | Model-Building |
| Energy | Forestry | Monetary |
| Environmental | Health | Transportation |
| Forecasting | International Trade | Urban |
| Welfare. |
Government economists analyze, evaluate, report, and recommend phases of important legislative activity. They compile, interpret, and forecast statistical data.
| Opportunities for advancement to positions at GS-11 and above are excellent. |
| Other opportunities for government work are mentioned under careers in business and business administration. |
There is an increasing demand for social studies teachers who have training in economics. The majority of social studies teachers have majored in history. But the need to prescribe policy solutions to crime, health, pollution, transportation, urban congestion, and redevelopment has resulted in economics becoming a regular and integral part of the curricula for teachers. Hence there is a derived demand for those teachers who can specialize in economics.
If you have training in economics and an interest in world travel, you should consider a career in the international organizations.
If you have an interest in seeing that funds are provided to developing countries in an
efficient manner, consider the following possible places to work: International
Development Association in Washington, DC; International Finance Corporation in
Washington, DC; World Bank in Washington, DC; and International Monetary Fund in
Washington, DC; United Nations (read on).
Do you want to live abroad or work in New York or another major city while working on economic problems of a global scope? Consider working in the United Nations. The United Nations offers you the opportunity to work in its Department of Economic Affairs in the following locations: New York City; Geneva, Switzerland (its European Headquarters); Addis Ababa, Africa (its African regional office) Bangkok, Thailand (its Asian regional office) Santiago, Chile (its Latin American regional office). Other special agencies within the United Nations that employ economists and that can take you abroad include: The Food and Agriculture Organization - Rome, Italy; The International Civil Aviation Organization - Montreal, Canada; The International Atomic Energy Organization - Vienna, Italy.
The following organizations are all located in Geneva, Switzerland: The International Labor Organization; The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The UN Conference on Trade and Development.
Working for international organizations may require permanent residence overseas, which involves eligibility for favorable United States income tax treatment. Working with other internationally mined citizens broadens your experience with understanding and coping with the myriad of human economic challenges pertinent to allocating the world's most pressing resources.
Economists are now employed by labor unions as research directors and as members of research staffs. Organized labor needs the technical knowledge and the analytical abilities of those who understand that labor is paid because there is an underlying demand for the kinds of goods and services that labor can supply or create.
Today's unions are concerned with the usual bread and butter issues of wages, working conditions, and fringe benefits. The also concern themselves with the broad spectrum of policies that affect the economy as a whole. Thus unions develop attitudes toward monetary, fiscal, and international trade and development practices that promote growth, stability, security, justice, environmental, and other human goals.
Labor economists have the job of educating their rank and file memberships, of influencing public opinion, and of affecting legislative laws and policies enacted by states, congresses, and administrative agencies.
If your interests, training, and life experience suggest that you have elements in common with union organizers, lawyers, and public relations personnel, then the labor movement promise you an enticing career as a labor economist.
Among those entering law schools today, surveys show that economics is the second most
prevalent undergraduate major. Obviously law is basic to discovering the outcome in many
cases of litigation. That's because economic issues of local, state, national, and
international importance attract litigants. The training in analytical thinking provides
the basis for coping with the many other kinds of social problems that the law entails.
There is evidence that the Deans in law schools would be pleased to see that their
students have more training in economic thinking than they typically do. Law, economics,
and public service provide and avenue of background and experience that is invaluable for
political life. If you want to a politician, economics provides a way of thinking about
public policy matters that will be an important aid to your decision making.
If you want to persuade public opinion by testifying before Congress, you should
consider a career as a research economist in either and interest-oriented organization or
the profit and not-for-profit organizations that disseminate information of all kinds.
Interest-oriented organizations that hire economists include the following:
| Air Transport Association | American Iron and Steel Institute |
| AFL-CIO | American Petroleum Institute |
| American Farm Bureau Federation | Chamber of Commerce |
| National Association of Manufacturers. Profit and non-profit organizations that hire economists include the following: | |
| American Enterprise Institute Brookings Institution |
Joint Council on Economic Education National Bureau of Economic Research |
| Committee for Economic Development Council on Foreign Relations |
National Industrial Conference Board National Planning Association |
| Twentieth Century Fund. | |
If you have strong recommendations and can do well on the Graduate Record Exam, you should consider that your associate degree which leads to your bachelor's degree should be yet another stepping stone toward your master's degree in economics.
Your master's degree will qualify you to teach in junior colleges and community colleges. It will also qualify you for a variety of positions in the fields of business, business administration, and public administration.
The Ph.D. in economics most frequently leads to careers in teaching and research. These occur in the state colleges and universities around the world. If you want to be a professor at a well know and respected university, you should set your sights on obtaining your Ph.D. in economics or another field.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, persons holding bachelor's degrees in economics exceed the average of monthly salaries earned by the average holder of all other degrees. Economics degree holders earn approximately $500.00 per month more than does the average baccalaureate degree holder.
The U.S. Department of Commerce found that average monthly earnings for economists with bachelor's degrees exceeded salaries earned in business/management, biology, physical/earth science, psychology, nursing/pharmacy/technical health, social science, English/journalism, liberal arts/humanities, education, and home economics.
The U.S. Department of Commerce found that average monthly earnings for economists with bachelor's degrees were less than those average monthly earning by those in agriculture/forestry, mathematics/statistics, and engineering.
Last update: 05.31.2006
Page Created and Modified by Tom Meyer
"Love for Econ springs eternal !"
