Career Resources

Career Overview

Current Growth Occupations

Majoring in Economics helps you develop important skills, including critical thinking and analytical reasoning. These general skills are valuable for any decision and any job or occupation. Thus, a degree in Economics provides you with the flexibility to adapt in a changing environment and take advantage of new opportunities. A degree in Economics is excellent preparation for a variety of careers and occupations. Individuals who want to be competitive in today's job market need to be ready and able to adapt as our economy evolves and grows.

The ability to critically evaluate problems and identify workable solutions is particularly important. To be successful, individuals need to be able to access and process information from a variety of sources and apply that information to specific problems using a variety of analytical tools. A quick glance at the partial list of the fastest growing occupations projected to have the largest numerical increases in employment between 2004 and 2014, by level of post secondary education or training presented below confirms this.

The Economics major is particularly well suited to prepare you for the career challenges in the twenty-first century by helping you develop important skills:

• Applying a general framework of analysis for solving "real-world" problems
• Conduct mathematical and statistical analysis
• Work with data to address specific issues
• Effectively communicate, in written and oral form, with others

Related Occupations Based on Degree

Career Experiences of Economic Graduates

An Economics degree qualifies students for a variety of careers. Based on Departmental surveys, approximately half our graduating majors begin their careers in management-oriented, general entry-level positions in business. Of the remainder, one-quarter obtain sales positions, one-eighth work in research positions in business and government and one-tenth are employed in computer-related positions. The following is a partial list of job titles and employers of recent Illinois State graduates who majored in Economics.

Job Title/Employer

A degree in Economics is also excellent preparation for post-graduate study in a variety of fields. Many students with an undergraduate degree in Economics go on to earn their MBA. Other students pursue a master’s or Ph.D. in Economics or a related field such as Finance. An Economics degree is excellent preparation for law school. Many law schools around the country offer courses in Law and Economics and have added one or more Ph.D. economists to their faculty. Regarding earnings potential, a study by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics examined the median income levels of people ages 25-64 with various undergraduate degrees, using salary data for 1993. Among men, economics majors had the seventh highest median income. Among women, economic majors had the highest median income.

Median Incomes of Mid-Career Men and Women with Bachelor’s Degrees

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To put these figures in perspective, consider that in 1993, the median income of year-round full-time workers was $31,077 for men and $22,469 for women. Median household income was approximately $36,959.

A National Association of Business Economists’ survey reported the following median starting salaries for business economists at different education levels: Bachelor’s, $29,005; Master’s degree, $35,005; Ph.D., $45,015; Average $35,005 (National Association of Business Economists, Salary Characteristics, 1996, Table 15). The Economics department at Illinois State routinely surveys its graduates to learn about their employment and earnings experiences. According to the results of those surveys, starting salaries for undergraduate majors in Economics at Illinois State are comparable to those reported by the NABE.