What an economist really does
You turn data into estimates of what a policy will cost and who it will affect, then defend your assumptions when people want a different number.
FieldScience and engineering
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Extensive preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for economists, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Pull and clean economic data such as employment, income, prices or tax records
- Build spreadsheet or statistical models to estimate the effect of a policy or forecast a trend
- Review drafts written by colleagues and check their numbers and reasoning
- Write short briefs and longer technical reports that explain findings
- Answer questions from officials, staff or clients who need a number fast
- Present results in meetings, and sometimes at hearings or conferences
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- Long weeks are the norm, not the exception. Duration of typical work week: 88% more than 40 hours (O*NET Work Context)
- It is a heavily seated, screen based job, often in a private office. Spend time sitting: 75% continually or almost continually; Physical proximity: 54% work with others but not closely (O*NET Work Context)
- A big part of the job is reviewing other people's work, not only producing your own. Task 5 (importance 75): Review documents written by others (O*NET)
- The field is competitive and expects exact work. Level of competition: 50% highly competitive; Importance of being exact or accurate: 50% extremely important (O*NET Work Context)
- You get a lot of freedom in how you approach problems, and about a third of economists make judgment calls every day. Freedom to make decisions: 61% a lot of freedom; Frequency of decision making: 32% every day (O*NET Work Context)
How people get into it
O*NET places this in Job Zone 5, which usually means a graduate degree; many economist roles ask for a master's, and research, academic and senior policy roles often require a PhD. Many people start as research assistants or analysts at a government agency, bank, consulting firm or university while building toward a graduate degree.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks at Ridgemont State Legislative Fiscal Office, a fictional company, with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: This trial does not cover building large econometric models in code over weeks, publishing peer reviewed research, teaching, or long running litigation support. The data and policy are fictional and simplified.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
Other careers you can try
Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 19-3011.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.