Teaching and researching how economies work, from markets to policy, you split your life between the lecture hall and your own research. Studying the economy while training the next economists.
Your work splits between teaching courses, advising students, and producing research, publishing, presenting, and modeling, on the academic calendar. You guide students through theory, data, and debate. The teaching and research pull at the same hours, and the pre-tenure years can be intense and high-pressure.
What's harder than expected is the tight job market and publish-or-perish pressure: top journals are brutal, and tenure is never guaranteed. Students arrive with uneven math, teaching well while researching hard is a constant stretch, and the balance varies by institution.
It tends to fit someone curious, rigorous, and patient with slow academic timelines. If you want fast, applied impact or a lucrative path, academia's pace and pressures can frustrate. But if you love the subject and shaping how students reason about the world, the work tends to stay meaningful well past tenure.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Teaching and researching how economies work, from markets to policy, you split your life between the lecture hall and your own research. Studying the economy while training the next economists.
Median pay for an Economics Faculty Member is about $120K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $58K to $217K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Writing, and Instructing.
Most people in this role hold a professional degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 2.1% through 2034, with roughly 12,420 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Healthcare Economics Analyst, Healthcare Economics Consultant, and Health Economics Consultant.
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