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Job outlook for assistant professors of economics in the United States
Are assistant professor of economics jobs in demand?
Assistant professor of economics job and salary trends over time
Assistant professor of economics jobs over time
Assistant professor of economics job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,390 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 1,542 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 1,565 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 1,503 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 1,506 | 0.00% |
Average assistant professor of economics salary over time
Assistant professor of economics salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $100,665 | $48.40 | +2.8% |
| 2024 | $97,953 | $47.09 | +2.8% |
| 2023 | $95,241 | $45.79 | +3.2% |
| 2022 | $92,303 | $44.38 | +2.7% |
| 2021 | $89,882 | $43.21 | +1.9% |
Assistant professor of economics jobs by state
Most common states for assistant professors of economics
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 114 | 16% |
| 2 | Vermont | 623,657 | 81 | 13% |
| 3 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 157 | 9% |
| 4 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 66 | 8% |
| 5 | Alaska | 739,795 | 62 | 8% |
| 6 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 413 | 7% |
| 7 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 274 | 7% |
| 8 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 131 | 7% |
| 9 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,193 | 6% |
| 10 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 543 | 6% |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 416 | 6% |
| 12 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 64 | 6% |
| 13 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 679 | 5% |
| 14 | Kentucky | 4,454,189 | 239 | 5% |
| 15 | Louisiana | 4,684,333 | 223 | 5% |
| 16 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 168 | 5% |
| 17 | Mississippi | 2,984,100 | 160 | 5% |
| 18 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 145 | 5% |
| 19 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 68 | 5% |
| 20 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 51 | 4% |
Most common cities for assistant professors of economics
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middletown | 2 | 4% | $91,837 |
| 2 | Newark | 1 | 3% | $139,110 |
| 3 | Ames | 1 | 2% | $68,991 |
| 4 | Fairfield | 1 | 2% | $91,537 |
| 5 | Washington | 7 | 1% | $137,308 |
| 6 | Gainesville | 1 | 1% | $79,633 |
| 7 | Baltimore | 1 | 0% | $99,811 |
Assistant Professor Of Economics job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of assistant professor of economics experts
University of South Florida
What soft skills should all Assistant Professors Of Economics possess?
Lee Braver: Soft skills are most important to working once one has gotten a job rather than important to getting a job since those are quite difficult to discern from applications and brief interviews. That is one of the reasons schools can be wary of hiring with tenure; a person could look great on paper but be a nightmare to work with, and you're stuck with them.
I believe that tenacity, organizational skills and time management, and the ability to work long hours are crucial to getting tenure and succeeding in academia more broadly, in some ways more important than raw intelligence (if such a notion is coherent). Failure and rejection are endemic to the job; anyone who gets discouraged easily will do so. One must persevere in the face of sometimes harsh criticism and hostile conditions (especially now that much of the country has turned against higher education and the humanities in particular), and one must be able to juggle multiple responsibilities that make considerable time demands. In this, the tenure track resembles other early-career positions, such as medical residency or working towards partnership in a law firm. The untenured often must do the scut work that no one else wants to do, made more difficult by the fact that they are frantically trying to learn on the job with little to no guidance. It is not at all unusual for early-career professors to teach 4 classes per semester, at least some of which are new and/or large, do all the grading for them, serve on multiple committees, and write for elusive publications, all at once.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Assistant Professors Of Economics?
Lee Braver: Well, a Ph.D. is necessary, although one can sometimes be hired within striking distance of it. The ability to teach so as to bring students to the major and get high student evaluations are often requirements at teaching schools while writing well enough to publish, often in journals with single-digit acceptance rates, is crucial to research schools. Comfort with technology is becoming more and more important.
What skills will help Assistant Professors Of Economics earn the most?
Lee Braver: Let's see-an M.B.A., the ability to pick winning lottery numbers, being repelled by the humanities so that one goes into business-those would be pretty useful for making money. No one should go into academia for the money, not just not for wealth but even for a comfortable living, which is becoming more difficult to achieve in America in general. It is nearly impossible to make a living as an adjunct professor, which is where the profession is heading. There are many good-paying jobs, but those tend to congregate at the elite schools, the ones that emphasize research the most, and these are the fewest and hardest to get. Worse-paying jobs are also hard to come by, and the competition is just getting stiffer as more Ph.D.'s get dumped into the market each year which is itself accreting all those who did not land jobs in the previous years. At many institutions, raises are minimal since jobs are so hard to come by, and there's little else that rewards a humanities Ph.D. The only way to get a substantial raise is to get a credible offer from another institution and hope that yours wants to keep you enough to overbid them; otherwise, you're stuck, especially after getting tenure, and they know it. That's why tenure is called "golden handcuffs," though I think a better name might be something like velvet handcuffs, given gold's connotation of wealth.
What skills stand out on Assistant Professor Of Economics resumes?
Lee Braver: Colleges and universities fall into different categories which value different skills and accomplishments. The most obvious division is between schools that emphasize research and those that pride themselves on their teaching. Research institutions are looking for scholars who can publish a lot in exclusive journals and presses, thereby enhancing their reputation. They are looking for evidence of research skills: publications, awards, letters of recommendation that praise the candidate's writing and thinking. Teaching schools, on the other hand, are looking for excellent teachers. In the buyer's market we now have, they can require high research ability as well, but some will actually be scared off by too much research. They will worry that the candidate will focus on their research instead of their teaching and that they will seek to leave as soon as they can. These schools are typically looking for teaching experience, high student evaluations, and letters that single out these qualities for praise, whereas research schools typically don't care a lot about these sorts of things. Thus, the qualities one type of institution values, the other can be apathetic towards or even avoid. Teaching schools far outnumber research schools, so there are far more jobs in the former than in the latter.