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Job outlook for price economists in the United States
Are price economist jobs in demand?
Price economist job and salary trends over time
Price economist jobs over time
Price economist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 65 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 71 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 70 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 73 | 0.00% |
Average price economist salary over time
Price economist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $58,131 | $27.95 | +3.2% |
| 2024 | $56,344 | $27.09 | +0.7% |
| 2023 | $55,980 | $26.91 | +1.8% |
| 2022 | $54,987 | $26.44 | +1.4% |
| 2021 | $54,214 | $26.06 | +1.9% |
Price economist jobs by state
Most common states for price economists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 39 | 6% |
| 2 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 54 | 1% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 35 | 1% |
| 4 | Alaska | 739,795 | 5 | 1% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 4 | 1% |
| 6 | California | 39,536,653 | 85 | 0% |
| 7 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 28 | 0% |
| 8 | New York | 19,849,399 | 23 | 0% |
| 9 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 22 | 0% |
| 10 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 20 | 0% |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 11 | 0% |
| 12 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 9 | 0% |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 3,930,864 | 3 | 0% |
| 14 | Hawaii | 1,427,538 | 3 | 0% |
| 15 | Vermont | 623,657 | 2 | 0% |
| 16 | Delaware | 961,939 | 2 | 0% |
| 17 | Nevada | 2,998,039 | 2 | 0% |
| 18 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 1 | 0% |
| 19 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 0 | 0% |
| 20 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 0 | 0% |
Price Economist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of price economist experts
American University
California State University - Los Angeles
New Mexico State University
Meredith College
University of Rhode Island
University of Central Arkansas
Arizona State University
Andrews University
Cornerstone University
Fairfield University
Gonzaga University
Belk College of Business
Elmira College
Quinnipiac University
What will help Price Economists increase their earning potential?
Kara Reynolds Chair: Do your research. There are plenty of public databases to help you research average salaries in individual companies, sectors, and geographic regions. Understanding what your skills are worth on the market will help you negotiate your maximum salary.
What general advice would you give to a Price Economist?
Niraj Koirala: In my view, skills such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will become very popular in the field in the next 3-5 years. Therefore, I would advise new students in the field to focus more on data aspect of economics studies.
What general advice would you give to a Price Economist?
Minghao Li: I will write something up and send it to you today.
What Price Economist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Michael Altman: Understanding the basics of supply and demand is how anyone can maximize their salary potential. Occupations with high demand and few available workers with those needed skills will command higher salaries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook is one reliable source about future job growth by occupation. Graduates can increase their bargaining power with employers by casting a wide net for employment opportunities and gaining more than one job offer.
Liam Malloy
Chair and Associate ProfessorUniversity of Rhode Island
Economics
What Price Economist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Liam Malloy: The skills that have become most relevant and will continue to be relevant will be data analysis, presentation, and communication skills. On top of that, being able to use the latest technology (whether that's data analysis software or artificial intelligence tools) will make you more productive and more employable. There's more and more economic data available and being able to find the data, analyze it, and present your findings in a clear manner will be extremely valuable.
What Price Economist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jeremy Horpedahl: Economics graduates already have some of the highest starting salaries outside of STEM fields, but you can maximize your salary right now by knowing the general range that a job pays and then making sure to ask for a good salary. You have to know the range, so that you aren't asking for a wildly inappropriate number, but if an employer asks you what salary you desire don't say 'I don't know' or ask for something low.
Cara McDaniel Ph.D.
Clinical Associate Professor/Executive Director of Undergraduate StudiesArizona State University
Department of Economics
What soft skills should all Price Economists possess?
Cara McDaniel Ph.D.: People trained in economics have excellent critical thinking skills. By this, I mean they can identify a problem, break it into smaller parts, and weigh the costs and benefits of different solutions. They are also good at applying these skills to various problems, from tax policy issues to individual firm pricing decisions.
Lucile Sabas
Associate Professor of Finance & EconomicsAndrews University
School of Business Administration
What general advice would you give to a Price Economist?
Lucile Sabas: I hope this email finds you well. Please see my responses attached. Thanks so much for the opportunity.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Price Economists to find work opportunities?
Jeffery Degner: Concerning opportunities within the U.S., the large multinational firms are still hiring! According to some of the latest from LinkedIn, the household names such as Walmart, Amazon, and FedEx are among those hiring most aggressively in the upcoming months. FedEx is an interesting case, where the worldwide disruptions in supply chain management due to governmental responses to Covid-19 has created space for new ideas and agile firms like XPO Logistics to hire fresh talent. My final comment might be viewed as a 'hot-take'...with that said, the banking industry has traditionally been a place where international business students have had plenty of open doors. However, the growing calls for governments to develop digital flat currencies that are distributed directly to citizens, may allow central banks to bypass the need for commercial and local banks entirely and might cause some instability in the banking field in the not too distant future
What are the best companies to work for a Price Economist?
Dr. Dina Franceschi Ph.D.: Here is a list of our most recent placements for Economics grads from Fairfield.
JP Morgan
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Synchrony
Google
Cigna
Travelers
Reuters
Peoples United Bank
BlackRock, Inc.
Newtown Savings Bank
American Express
Gabelli Asset Management Co.
General Electric Co.
Greenwich Capital
IBM Corp.
Will there be an increase or decrease in demand for Price Economists in the next 5 years?
Dr. Dina Franceschi Ph.D.: Economists' job outlook is stable at 14% according to the BLS, and I imagine it will remain so in the coming years. Additionally, salaries in the field are relatively high.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Price Economists to find work opportunities?
Ryan Herzog Ph.D.: The tech industry is booming as firms adjust operations for the work-from-home environment. We are in a strange transition, and I'm not sure it is ending any time soon. Careers tied to leisure and hospitality and air travel will take years before they return to pre-pandemic levels. So Boeing, Delta, United, American Airlines, etc. might not be hiring for a while, but Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, etc. will be able to pick up the slack.
We also see demand pick up in service sectors (hardware stores, fast food), delivery (FedEx, UPS, UberEats/Grubhub), outdoor recreation, and construction (especially single and multifamily units). The pandemic will speed up a lot of tech developments (Zoom, Instacart) and create a lot of new opportunities (still figuring these out).
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Price Economists?
Dr. Craig Depken II: Yes-not so much the pandemic itself (as I am not a medical doctor) but the associated recession and setback in employment opportunities will impact the 2020 and 2021 graduates throughout their career. Previous studies have shown that coming out of college during a recession can impact starting salaries by up to 10%, conditional on being employed, and can also substantially increase the amount of time before a graduate finds a first job in their skill set. This reduces lifetime earnings as they start at a lower salary and often find that promotions or new jobs are hard to come by.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Price Economists in the next 3-5 years?
Matthew Burr: Erp systems are critical to know and understand. His and payroll systems are necessary for accounting professionals to understand. Microsoft Excel is also a program all need to be subject matter experts with. Look for evolving technologies and apps. The internet of things.
What general advice would you give to a Price Economist?
Christopher Ball Ph.D.: Economics is a broad, analytical, and generally more quantitative significant. Because it’s a social science that helps students understand nearly any field because they know all fundamental interactions between people in markets (supply and demand) or inside workplaces (incentives, optimal production, etc.). And because much of economics focuses on the market place (supply and demand), our majors have an understanding of the core principles involved in all business disciplines. As a result, I recommend our students aim for more quantitative jobs and those using more analysis. The specific field is less important, and I always recommend people seek employment in areas they like. When you enjoy something, you work harder, and you are more likely to succeed. Because economics forms the basis of so many things in business from the marketing to production to the management, economics majors tend to start similarly to other majors and then change trajectories and rise faster than other majors. A few years out and they are ideal for management because they can apply economic concepts to any area and learn the basics quickly.
However, if someone is quantitatively oriented and added a technical minor to the econ major like data science or something, then those students are in super high demand, COVID crisis or not. We still see them graduating with some of the highest starting salaries and having much higher wages just five years out than most other graduates. All the benefits of economics being analytical and quantitative combines well with those hardcore data skills to form a compelling combination.