Business Economics Career Center

Below are links to profiles of some of our members, who work in diverse fields in organizations around the world. Find out how they got started in their careers, and check out some of the other features of the website that can help you in your career.

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
• Country Risk Analyst
• Law and Economics
• Credit Union Economist
• Central Bank 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 2012 survey, are listed here.

Highlights

• The median base salary of National Association for Business Economics (NABE) members as of April 2012 was $121,000. The mean (average) base salary was $139,021 – an increase of slightly more than five percent from that reported in 2010. 
• The majority of survey respondents indicated that they received additional gross compensation in additional to their base salary. Of those that did, the median amount of such compensation was $25,000.
• Twenty-two percent of respondents indicated they earned secondary professional income. The median amount of this income was $8,250.
• Median starting salaries ranged from $50,000 to $85,000, depending on level of education. The median starting base salary was $66,250.
• Female members of NABE continue to earn less than their male colleagues, but their income did rise from 2010. Base salary for women was $100,000, 79 percent of the male median of $126,048.

Entry Level Salaries

The survey asked NABE members about their organization’s educational requirements and starting salary for entry-level economists. Of the 224 responses to this question, 32 percent indicated their firm/organizations required a bachelor’s degree for such positions while 47 percent would require a master’s degree. One out of five respondents indicated that their organizations require entry-level economists to have all but their doctoral dissertations.

The median starting salary for entry-level economists in 2012 (regardless of level of education) was $66,250 – a 14 percent increase from the $58,000 median reported in the 2010 survey report. For those with a bachelor’s degree, median entry-level salary was $50,000 – also a decline from the $58,000 starting salary (identical to the overall entrylevel median) in 2010 for those with an undergraduate degree. But, similar to findings in the previous study, starting salary increases with more advanced degrees. In contrast to results in the 2010 survey, however, those holding a master’s degree commanded a higher starting salary in 2012. The median base starting salary for those with a Ph.D. was $85,000 – unchanged from both the 2010 and the 2008 surveys.