San Jose State University : Department of Economics

Navigation

Main Content

Careers and Internships

Internships

Useful Links

Honors and Awards

Scholarships

High-School AP Economics Programs at SJSU

Careers for Economics Graduates

Individuals with a Bachelor's degree in Economics can be found in a wide variety of fields and positions. Employers in business, politics, law, social work and education highly value the critical-thinking skills developed in economics. Employers can, for example, train you to do "marketing" the company way. But they cannot train you to do economic thinking. Economics develops your ability to organize your thoughts on complex issues, thus enabling you to write professionally and to make clear and persuasive arguments. Economics develops your investigative skills as you learn to analyze and interpret data. Economic thinking, or what is sometimes referred to in the corporate world as scenario planning, is a skill you bring to the employer.

Across all fields, employers are looking for three key skills, the ability to reason, the ability to communicate orally and in writing, and the ability to calculate. Economics provides the reasoning, writing, and calculating skills that employers seek. These skills explain why economics majors score higher on law school admissions tests than other majors and why economics majors receive among the highest starting salaries. While the most common entry level positions are in the area of management, marketing, finance, and analysis, economics baccalaureates can also be found in government, international agencies, teaching positions, non-profit agencies, and political consulting.billboard that reads, "hello world"