How To Become An Economic Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an economic consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Dawn Gomez Ph.D.,

Dr. Abel Winn

Economic consultants are tasked with researching and analyzing data statistics and market conditions that affect a particular business, including the performance of its production and manufacturing processes. They are employed by consulting agencies or firms. They review the economic standing of the business to suggest ways of maximizing economic benefits and outcomes. Additionally, they develop business plans. Moreover, they may be asked to advise in settlement cases about economic issues. Also, they write reports for referencing and discuss sales forecasts.

In this field, an entry-level position requires a bachelor's degree in a related discipline. However, for career advancement, you'll need an MBA or a Ph.D. You must be familiar with economic trends. Common skills include research and analytical skills and proficiency in mathematics and statistics. Having experience using software such as SAS or STATA is a plus. Economic consultants earn an average salary of $82,898 per annum. This varies between $49,000 and $140,000.

What general advice would you give to an economic consultant?

Dawn Gomez Ph.D.

Assistant Director of Career Services, Texas A&M University-

Keep your networking muscles flexed and diversified - though you may finally be employed in your dream job after graduation, you never know when you are going to need to reach back out to your network for job advice or your next opportunity. Get and stay engaged with your alumni network, local Chambers of Commerce for Brown Bag Lunches or virtual lunch and learns, join targeted LinkedIn groups, and stay active on LinkedIn.

ScoreEconomic ConsultantUS Average

Salary

6.4

Avg. Salary $81,767

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.16%

Asian 14.32%

Black or African American 7.43%

Hispanic or Latino 8.45%

Unknown 4.44%

White 65.20%

Gender

female 35.88%

male 64.12%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.2

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an economic consultant

Explore economic consultant education requirements

Most common economic consultant degrees

Bachelor's

55.8 %

Master's

32.7 %

Doctorate

6.8 %

Start to develop specific economic consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
SAS	19.05%
SQL	18.28%
Data Analysis	11.33%
Financial Analysis	9.88%
PowerPoint	6.05%

Complete relevant economic consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New economic consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an economic consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real economic consultant resumes.

Research economic consultant duties and responsibilities

Provide SharePoint development and administration, budget and financial reporting; manage invoicing; and develop training manuals and user guides.
Generate and analyze data sets using SAS.
Modify legacy SAS code to run more reliably and e ciently.
Educate professionals on the CPT coding system and the circumstances under which private insurers and Medicaid would accept claims.

Prepare your economic consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your economic consultant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an economic consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable economic consultant resume templates

Build a professional economic consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your economic consultant resume.