What does a senior economist do?
Senior economists are professionals who perform complex research on topics about economics and policies related to the financial field, such as banking, international regulations, and monetary policies. These economists manage a team of economists and assign staff in research projects to ensure that their deliverables are accurate and present. They must provide business owners with recommendations to address problem areas that are identified through the analysis of data. Senior economists must also assist statistician in performing data analysis and research.
Senior economist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior economist resumes:
- Lead the department research in forecasting and econometrics.
- Lead training session and mentore of co-workers in using SAS programming to perform quantitative analysis.
- Organize and lead strategic meetings between senior management and local communities, NGOs, and government agencies.
- Manage junior employees, teaching them SAS and company data, and ensuring their deliverables are accurate and clearly present.
- Lead the advanced receiver hardware prototyping and evaluate the receiver performance.
- Work with the banking industry to develop lending facilities for the SME segment.
- Authore global macro reports on FX/rates and fix income (G10 and apac-focuse).
- Organize data and statistics, create models, and use regression analysis and other modeling techniques.
- Predict manufacturing development using methods of correlation and regression analysis.
- Analyze and interpret macroeconomic, financial market and political developments in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Canada.
- Advise on factors that may affect default and recovery rates, such as relevant macroeconomic conditions and industry-specific developments.
- Develop, specify, and test econometric models using time-series econometrics, panel-data econometrics, and limit dependent variable techniques.
- Support the competition peer review, in which OECD analyzes the competition policy in Colombia and formulates some policy recommendations.
Senior economist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Senior Economists are proficient in Econometrics, Macro, and Research Projects. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Economists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Econometrics, 10%
Developed, specified, and tested econometric models using time-series econometrics, panel-data econometrics, and limited dependent variable techniques.
- Macro, 8%
Managed research development to publish reports: * Kept Board of Directors and international stakeholders abreast of global macro trends.
- Research Projects, 8%
Estimated health outcomes, analyzed qualitative data and managed many data research projects.
- SAS, 6%
Evaluate the performance and outcome of clinical programs on Medicare and Retirement members for various markets using SAS.
- Data Analysis, 6%
Assemble and train a small data analysis team.
- Economic Analysis, 5%
Conducted economic analysis and researches of labor market developments, investments and consumption behaviors.
Most senior economists use their skills in "econometrics," "macro," and "research projects" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior economist responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a senior economist to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what senior economists do because "economists must be able to review data and observe patterns to draw logical conclusions." Additionally, a senior economist resume shows how senior economists use analytical skills: "provided economic and financial analysis support to the sec's enforcement division. "
The three companies that hire the most senior economists are:
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Compare different senior economists
Senior 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, senior economist responsibilities require skills like "macro," "financial markets," "policy issues," and "risk management." Meanwhile a typical economic development internship has skills in areas such as "sql," "first hand," "economic policy," and "data collection." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that economic development interns earn slightly differ from senior economists. In particular, economic development interns are 21.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior economist. Additionally, they're 14.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior 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 senior economist resumes. While senior economist responsibilities can utilize skills like "economic research," "policy issues," "risk management," and "time series analysis," economist research assistants use skills like "matlab," "academic papers," "eviews," and "market research."
Economist research assistants earn a higher average salary than senior economists. But economist research assistants earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $154,930. Additionally, senior economists earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $121,138 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Economist research assistants tend to reach lower levels of education than senior economists. In fact, they're 8.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 14.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior economists in the next 3-5 years?
Erik Johnson Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics, Carthage College
Senior economist vs. Economic developer
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior economist resumes include skills like "econometrics," "macro," "research projects," and "sas," whereas an economic developer is more likely to list skills in "data entry," "business community," "business plan," and "eda. "
When it comes to education, economic developers tend to earn lower degree levels compared to senior economists. In fact, they're 15.5% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 11.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior economist vs. Econometrician
Types of senior economist
Updated January 8, 2025
