Economists interpret data, research and statistics to develop forecasts on a variety of topics such as interest rates, inflation, employment and consumer spending. Some economists specialize in a certain area such as microeconomics, financial economics, industrial economics or public finance economics.The number of jobs for economists is expected to grow at 6% through 2018. This is slower than overall U.S. job growth. While the demand for workers who have in-depth knowledge of economics is expected to increase more rapidly, it is expected that many people who study economics will find jobs in other sectors such as business and public policy.

Government jobs in economics usually require a bachelor’s degree with at least 21 hours of economics and additional hours of calculus, statistics and accounting. Private sector economic jobs generally require advance education such as mater’s and Ph.D degrees for both entry-level jobs and career advancement.