Business Economics Career Center
Welcome to the new NABE Careers Center. It profiles people who use economics in their work, and highlights the varied job functions and companies.
Profiles of people who use economics in their work
- Traditional Corporate Economist
- Strategic/corporate planning
- Entrepreneur
- Trade Association
- International Financial Markets
- Consulting
- Economic Development
- Labor Economist
Salary Survey Highlights
NABE conducts a biennial salary survey. While the full results are for members only, entry level salary information, and highlights from the 2006 survey, are listed here.
Highlights
- The median base salary of 594 responding NABE members was $109,000, a nine percent increase over that reported in 2004.
- Additional gross compensation was reported by 68 percent of respondents. The median amount of this compensation was $20,000. This income averaged 18 percent of the median base salary.
- Secondary professional income was reported by 25 percent of respondents. The median amount of this income was $10,000, nine percent of base salary.
- The median entry-level base salary of $53,500 was up seven percent from 2004. The most popular educational levels sought by employers for a new entrant were a master’s degree (48 percent) or a bachelor’s degree (29 percent).
- Female respondents reported a median salary of $90,000, 78 percent of the male median of $116,000.
- The securities and investments industry reported the highest median base salary of $150,000, as well as the highest median additional gross compensation of $77,500. The lowest reporting industry was the transportation, utilities, and communication sector, with a median base salary of $93,000.
- Those who worked in general administrative/economics positions had the highest median base salary, $140,000, followed by those in macroeconomic forecasting, $128,000. NABE members in teaching and financial planner/analyst positions reported the lowest median salaries.
- Salary did not vary reliably by firm size. The distribution of respondents by firm size is more or less evenly split between firms of a) fewer than 50 employees, b) between 50 and 2,500 employees, and c) more than 2,500 employees.
- It pays to have supervisory responsibilities. There is a direct correlation between the number of people supervised and median base salaries.
- Income rises with education. A bachelor’s degree commanded a median salary of $74,500, a master’s $95,000, an “ABD” $111,000, and a Ph.D $135,000. Graduates of “top-ranked” economics departments earned a median of 35 percent more than other graduates.
- Median base salary and additional compensation rise with years of experience, reaching their peak with experience of 25 years or more.
- Median base salaries were similar in most regions. The Mountain region had the lowest median, the West North Central region the highest.
- Government/central bank and consulting comprised the largest categories of respondents with 17 percent of the total each. The industry mix was similar in the 2004 survey.
Entry Level Salaries
NABE members were asked that if their organization were to hire an entry-level economist, what would be the educational requirement and offering salary. We received 532 responses. As this table shows, 30 percent of NABE members responding to the survey would be looking for a person with a bachelor’s degree, while 48 percent would be looking for a person with a master’s degree and 20 percent would want a person with a Ph.D. The median starting salary for the holder of a bachelor’s degree would be $43,000, while the median starting salary for the holder of a master’s degree would be $52,000. Both of these starting salaries are $2,000 higher than the starting salaries for holders of these degrees reported in the 2004 survey. Unsurprisingly, the median base salary increases with the level of educational attainment. Starting salaries were highest in New York at $70,000. By industry, the highest starting salary was $64,000, in finance and insurance.
| Degree | Percent |
Median Starting Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's | 29% |
$43,000 |
| MA | 48% |
$52,000 |
| ABD | 2% |
$75,000 |
| Ph.D. | 20% |
$76,200 |
