Economist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
An Economist studies the economy, develops theories and predictions about economic trends, and uses economic analysis to address issues affecting people, businesses and society. Follows a specific economic sector, industry or market, or studies monetary and fiscal policy, government policy or international economics.
Job Outlook
There were 90 Economist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 4420 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Economist industry, which includes the Economist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Economist jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $124,393.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $116,909.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Economist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $85,595.
Education and Experience
Posted Economist jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 50.75% |
| Master's Degree | 48.01% |
| Doctoral Degree | 37.44% |
| Other | 3.8% |
Posted Economist jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 37.35% |
| 3 to 5 years | 39.66% |
| 6 to 8 years | 12.29% |
| 9+ years | 10.7% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Economist positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Research (64.19%)
- Communication (40.41%)
- Management (37.85%)
- Writing (32.71%)
- Presentations (29.12%)
- Leadership (26.58%)
- Planning (25.27%)
- Forecasting (20.23%)
- Problem Solving (18.53%)
- Microsoft Excel (18.35%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Economic Research (17.13%)
- Accounting (21.11%)
- Econometrics (24.13%)
- Economics (87.4%)
- Economic Analysis (16.17%)
- Statistics (32.94%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Statistical Analysis (8.79%)
- Economic Modeling (8.69%)
- Policy Development (4.1%)
- Calculus (10.53%)
- Agriculture (7.81%)
- Business Development (8.34%)
- Python (Programming Language) (20.82%)
- Economic Growth (1.57%)
- Data Collection (7.69%)
- R (Programming Language) (23.39%)
- Finance (29.13%)
- Economic Development (13.58%)
- Financial Analysis (10.58%)
- Data Analysis (25.39%)
- Cost Benefit Analysis (3.69%)
- Health Economics (2.41%)
- Marketing (13.29%)
- Policy Analysis (6.34%)
- Public Policies (9.53%)
- Project Management (12.74%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (15.94%)
- Social Sciences (6.29%)
- SAS (Software) (16.03%)
- Stata (15.05%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Economic Forecasting (3.31%)
- Economic Policy (3.6%)
- Applied Economics (3.72%)
- EViews (2.53%)
- Economic Theories (6.38%)
- Econometric Modeling (8.12%)
- Financial Economics (1.48%)
- Environmental Economics (1.24%)
- Microeconomics (3.6%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Economic Policy (4.03%)
- Economic Research (19.19%)
- Applied Economics (4.16%)
- Economics (97.94%)
- Econometrics (27.04%)
- Econometric Modeling (9.1%)
- Economic Analysis (18.13%)
- Economic Theories (7.15%)
- Financial Economics (1.66%)
- Microeconomics (4.03%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Economist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Lead Economist
- Economic Analyst
- Healthcare Economics Analyst
- Medical Economics Analyst
- Labor Economist
- Research Economist
- Financial Economist
- Environmental Economist
- Economic Development Specialist
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Economist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Amazon (199)
- United States Department of the Treasury (111)
- UnitedHealth Group (106)
- Nutanix (98)
- Prime Therapeutics (84)
- United States Government (76)
- The World Bank Group (61)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (60)
- Farm Service Agency (60)
- Berkeley Research Group (59)
North Carolina
- Research Triangle Institute (17)
- RTI International (5)
- Wells Fargo (4)
- Federal Reserve Bank (4)
- USAA (3)
- ICF International (3)
- UnitedHealth Group (3)
- East Carolina University (2)
- American Institutes For Research (2)
- Cone Health (2)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Agricultural Science Undergraduate Degrees
- Business Analytics Graduate Certificates
- Operations Research Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.