What does an economist do?
The primary role of economists is to study how society distributes resources, including raw materials, land, and labor, to create goods and services. They perform various tasks, including conducting research, monitoring economic trends, and devising forecasts on a wide range of issues such as inflation, interest rates, and employment. Additionally, they are responsible for preparing reports and presentations and advising individuals, businesses, and governments on economic issues. Economists are also responsible for designing policies or making recommendations for resolving economic problems.
Economist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real economist resumes:
- Manage, utilize, and archive database for commodities in assign areas.
- Lead the advanced receiver hardware prototyping and evaluate the receiver performance.
- Formulate USDA policy positions and apprise decision makers on their implications.
- Provide economic and financial analysis, particularly on treasury functions and natural resource taxation.
- Ensure compliance with HIPAA and FDA.
- Support FDA filing for azimilide.
- Solicit new participation in the CPI.
- Partner with IP division on new product development.
- Function as an economic consultant to IRS corporate audit teams.
- Serve on several committees to support USDA's national headquarters.
- Forecast financial needs in the power sector in developing countries.
- Track special funds for oilseed commodities into seed and special account.
- Serve as co-facilitator for the DIR component of the CEP rotation.
- Estimate changes in the cost of the shelter component for CPI.
- Provide professional customer service to BLS's wide variety of data users.
Economist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Economists are proficient in Economic Research, Research Findings, and Economic Analysis. They’re also known for soft skills such as Speaking skills, Writing skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Economists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Economic Research, 9%
Provided peer-review to actuarial and economic research, as well as statistical and econometric consulting services as consultant to internal requests.
- Research Findings, 7%
Organized researched data into report format, including graphical illustrations of research findings.
- Economic Analysis, 6%
Translated data into written reports/economic analysis for clients and for online blogs, connecting results of analysis to actionable information.
- Research Projects, 4%
Conducted research projects on the effectiveness of financial recovery programs and monitored the status of domestic commercial real estate.
- Econometrics, 4%
Developed and maintained econometrics modeling forecasts relating to banking, finance and the economy.
- Project Management, 4%
Project management in environmental protection, democracy, economics, free trade, health, and education.
Common skills that an economist uses to do their job include "economic research," "research findings," and "economic analysis." You can find details on the most important economist responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of economists is analytical skills. This skill is critical to many everyday economist duties, as "economists must be able to review data and observe patterns to draw logical conclusions." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "analyzed multimillion line-items of data to perform data decomposition and analysis in antitrust litigation. "
Communication skills. A big part of what economists do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to economist responsibilities because "economists must be able to explain their work through presentations and in written reports." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical economist tasks: "focus on the communications, translations and the fusades magazine on macro and micro economics. "
Computer skills. Another common skill required for economist responsibilities is "computer skills." This skill comes up in the duties of economists all the time, as "economists often use statistical analysis and other software to analyze data." An excerpt from a real economist resume shows how this skill is central to what an economist does: "used computer assisted data collection process to identify and initiate products and services into the c.p.i. "
The three companies that hire the most economists are:
- CDM Smith280 economists jobs
- Amazon53 economists jobs
- Nutanix41 economists jobs
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Compare different economists
Economist vs. Economic development internship
An economic development intern is responsible for supporting an organization's market performance, analyzing trends in the industry, and strategizing techniques to improve business services. Economic development interns perform administrative duties under the supervision of tenured staff and managers. They compile business and financial reports, update information on the database, respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, escalate complaints, and schedule appointments. An economic development intern may also assist in facilitating economic programs and other initiative developments.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, economist responsibilities require skills like "research findings," "project management," "policy issues," and "interest rates." Meanwhile a typical economic development internship has skills in areas such as "first hand," "economic policy," "real estate," and "community development." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, economic development interns reach lower levels of education than economists. Economic development interns are 18.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 4.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Economist vs. Economist research assistant
While a development specialist works on creating plans for community development, the economic developer helps implement the development strategies set forth by specialists. They help in the distribution of survey questionnaires and the collection of data, as well as the interpretation of results. The economic developer also helps in business creation, retention, and expansion. They take leads in developing a private sector-public relationship in terms of funding for project implementation. They are knowledgeable and have good communication skills.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real economist resumes. While economist responsibilities can utilize skills like "economic research," "research findings," "project management," and "policy issues," economist research assistants use skills like "matlab," "academic papers," "data management," and "regression analysis."
Economist research assistants may earn a higher salary than economists, but economist research assistants earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $154,930. On the other hand, economists receive higher pay in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $122,496.In general, economist research assistants achieve lower levels of education than economists. They're 5.8% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 4.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for economists in the next 3-5 years?
Erik Johnson Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics, Carthage College
Economist vs. Economic developer
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an economist is likely to be skilled in "economic research," "research findings," "economic analysis," and "research projects," while a typical economic developer is skilled in "data entry," "business community," "eda," and "access database."
Most economic developers achieve a lower degree level compared to economists. For example, they're 12.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Economist vs. Environmental economist
Types of economist
Updated January 8, 2025
