Career Pathways for Economics Majors
This Infographic titled Where Our Economics Graduates Land summarizes a UC Davis alumni survey. Shows statistics on salaries, industries, job titles, skills, and advanced degrees. Includes charts with salary ranges, average salary by graduation era, and percentages of alumni working in fields such as finance, technology, government, education, law, healthcare, consulting, and real estate. Highlights skills employers seek, skills learned in the major, how grads found their first job, and quotes from alumni.
Apply your ECN Skills to your Resume
Over and over, there is a discussion of Economists being "problem solvers" in many contexts, here is a way to analyze and describe this in your future goal exploration and opportunities.
Build Your Resume
Some undergraduate placements include:
- Masters program in (Theoretical) Economics in LSE
- Masters in applied Economics/Management in UCLA, Cornell
- Masters program in Statistics/Biostatistics in Yale, Chicago, Columbia
- Research assistant in the Economics Department in the Chinese University of Hong Kong
- PhD program in UC Davis, UC Irvine
- Business Intelligence Developer (Epic Systems), Data Visualization Engineer (SpringML), Consultant (KPMG)
Check out more featured alumni!
Graduate Study
- Some Economics graduates move on to further study. For advice for those planning a Masters degree click here. For those planning a Ph.D. click here.
Where Can I look for Jobs?
- Take a look at the Career Center for support! http://icc.ucdavis.edu/data/major.htm?mc=171
- This is our campus resource description and information about careers for an Economics major. It also includes helpful links to descriptions from https://whatcanidowiththismajor.com
- This has some simple career paths for economics degree holders: https://www.zippia.com/economics-major/
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Handbook where students can learn about different types of careers: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- State of California site that allows people to take a quick survey to see what types of jobs they might be suited for as well as descriptions of different career paths and requirements for those careers: https://www.cacareerzone.org/
Employment
Economics graduates obtain employment in a very wide range of fields. For some examples for our major, click here.
This employment is very well compensated. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York study released February 2023 on "The Labor market for Recent College Graduates" reports that the median wage for a mid-career graduate (aged 35 to 45) in Economics is $100,000, compared to a median wage across all majors of $75,000. The only higher paid majors are Computer Science ($105,000) and Engineering ($100,000-$120,000). Business-related majors median wages are in the range $75,000-$100,000 (Business $75,000, Accounting $80,000, Marketing $85,000, Business Analytics $99,000, Finance $100,000).
The HEA group article on "Which College Majors Pay the Most" provides link to a detailed dataset of median earnings four years after graduation for 246 majors based on February 2023 US Department of Education data. The highest paid majors are mainly in Medical, Engineering and Computer Science disciplines. Then various economics and business/related majors are in the $58,000-$74,000 range: Economics ($74,000), Finance ($74,000), Business/Managerial Economics ($71,000), Accounting ($64,000), Business/Commerce ($61,000), Marketing ($59,000), Business Administration ($58,000). Social science majors are generally in the $40,000-$55,000 range and Biology is $49,000.
Career Skills:
SOFTWARE
Recommendations that students learn Excel, MS Office generally (i.e. Word, PowerPoint), possibly LaTex and of course some type of econometric software like “R”.NETWORKING
It is important to network and get to know people in your chosen field. Some suggestions may be joining campus clubs, sign up for Linkedin, join the UC Davis Economics Alumni Group etc.CERTIFICATIONS
Chartered Financial Analyst, Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Public Accountant, and other types of certifications have been pursued beyond a post-undergraduate degree or alternatively to a graduate program.
"Economics Alumni Panel- Navigating the Workforce"
Meet Economics Alumni
Alt Text: Video frame thumbnail for the YouTube video titled 'Economics Alumni Panel - Navigating the Workforce' by EHE Advising. Displays a 2x3 grid of video call participants: Aiden Lafreniere, Vy Nguyen, Shaida Mirmazaheri, Nicholas Zhu, Cynthia Murillo, and Eric Ung, with a red YouTube play button in the center."
"A Career in Economics...It's Much More than You Think"
Alt Text: Video frame thumbnail for the Vimeo video titled 'A Career in Economics...It's Much More than You Think' by the American Economic Association. Features a student wearing headphones and taking notes in front of library bookshelves, with video playback controls overlaid at the bottom.