Employment Prospects of Economics Graduates

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Employment Prospects of Economics Graduates

• John Sloman
• Director, Economics Network

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Overview

• Views of graduates
• Some findings of the Economics Network Economics
  graduates survey
• Your views
• A workshop exercise
• Views of employers
• What employers feel about Economics graduates and
  what employers want from new employees

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Views of Economics Graduates in Employment
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Survey of Economics Graduates

• Year of graduation
• 1980s 29 1990s 30 20003 41
• Employment
• Full time 72 Part time 15 Education 7
• Current salary
• gt40K 37 20K40K 26 lt20K 26

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How did the following influence your decision to
take your current job?
Source Economics Alumni Survey, Economics
Network, 2005
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Skills highlighted byEconomics Benchmarking
Statement

• Abstraction
• Ability to abstract the essential features of
  complex systems and provide a useable framework
  for evaluation and assessment of the effects of
  policy or other exogenous events.
• Analysis, deduction and induction
• Ability to use such analytical skills for problem
  solving and decision making.
• Quantification and design
• Ability to organise, present and analyse data.
• Framing
• Ability to decide what the important parameters
  are in constraining the solution to the problem.
  Understanding why these parameters might change
  according to the social and political context.

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Specific concepts

• Opportunity cost
• Trade-offs and rational choices efficiency v.
  equity
• Relevance of marginal considerations
• Equilibrium, disequilibrium, stability
• Process of reaching equilibrium Nash equilibrium
• Incentives
• Incentive mechanisms targets and indicators
• Strategic thinking
• Understanding means to ends trade-offs
• Expectations and shocks
• Understanding behaviour also reactions to the
  unpredicted
• Gains from voluntary interaction
• Allocative efficiency interaction as a positive
  sum game
• Systems and dynamics
• Long-term effects how effects can accumulate or
  peter out

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How do you rate your study of Economics in
developing skills for your current job?
Source Economics Alumni Survey, Economics
Network, 2005
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How well did your degree course help you
to develop generic skills suitable for your
current job?
Source Economics Alumni Survey, Economics
Network, 2005
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How do you rate your own generic skills now?
Source Economics Alumni Survey, Economics
Network, 2005
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Looking back on your time as a student and
knowing what you do now about careers and the
workplace, would you still choose to study
Economics at degree level?
Source Economics Alumni Survey, Economics
Network, 2005
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Tip for getting a job with the GES

• A keen interest in economics, current affairs and
  politics is vital. To get into the GES it is
  important to demonstrate personal skills, which
  indicate your ability to deal with problems
  quickly and imaginatively while providing
  high-quality solutions.
• In addition, you must be able to think in terms
  of economic processes emphasising not so much
  specific knowledge of models and literature, but
  the capacity to apply the analytical basics of
  economics to problems encountered on the policy
  front.
• It helps to practise mental application of
  economics to everyday problems, such as how
  could the government provide incentives to
  increase the supply of housing in the UK?, etc.

Mario an Assistant Economist with the GES (quote
from Prospects)
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Your Views a speed dating exercise

• Round 1 in pairs
• The person on the right as you face the front
  should play the role of an employer at interview.
  The person on their left should play the
  applicant for a job as an economist.
• The task conduct a 5 minute interview where the
  applicant has to describe the various skills they
  have developed during their degree that would
  make them a particularly suitable employee.
• Round 2 in different pairs
• Turn to the person on the other side of you.
  Repeat the first exercise, but this time the
  roles are reversed.

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Views of Employers
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Quote from Prospects

• Employers value
• economics graduates' understanding of
  decision-making
• their research and analytical skills
• their experience of viewing problems in their
  national and international context.
• These skills will be tested through any graduate
  job selection process.

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Australian employers of Economics Graduates
Looking for skills that can be transferred
to various applications Public-sector organisation
Many applicants and recruits appear to have less
exposure to the application of economic theory to
policy issues within their degrees Private-sector
organisation
Economic theory must be balanced i.e. business
reality Private-sector organisation
Practical work experience is very important
e.g. vacation periods or placements Private-secto
r organisation
Cannot emphasise too highly the value placed on
(1) the capacity to write succinctly for an
audience without formal economics training (2)
to speak clearly logically and articulately in
conveying assertions, analysis and conclusions
(3) knowledge of data sources and the weaknesses
of and limits to uses of different types of
data Private-sector organisation
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Strengths of Economics Graduates

• Analytical way of thinking
• Problem-solving
• Recognition and clarifying
• Problem analysis
• Identifying and comparing alternative solutions
  to problems
• Scepticism over possible misuse of data

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UK employers of Economics Graduates
What we are looking for in Economics graduates is
how they apply economic theory to real-world
problems, find the theory and the evidence to
support it and dissect the problem before looking
for its solution. HM Revenue and Customs
Economics graduates have an advantage in content
knowledge, but they need to be careful not to
concentrate too much on the theory, when applying
for jobs. We would accept someone if they didnt
have economics. Private-sector consultancy firm
We are looking for Economics graduates ability
to apply economic theory to policy in practical
situations. They have to know enough of the
theory to be able to extract it. Thats what we
are looking for in selection, people who are able
to apply economics to real-life issues. GES
Economist Group Management Unit
In problem-solving we are looking to see if
applicants are able to quickly recognise
problems, clarify the problem, analyse the
problem, come up with different options and solve
the problem effectively. Private-sector
consultancy firm
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UK Employers Views on Graduate Skills (all
graduates)
problem-solving to be a very important attribute
but one with which they are only moderately
satisfied because of graduates' lack of
real-world application.
Most employers consider
that understanding of core principles, technical
ability, potential and willingness to learn and
continually updating knowledge are more important
than a stock of knowledge.
that graduates are not particularly good at
applying knowledge or understanding to practical
work situations because of (i) inability to
improvise, (ii) lack of commercial awareness and
(iii) lack of appreciation of the human or
cultural context within which they are working.
Employability Backpack (U of Central Lancashire)
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Weaknesses of Economics Graduates

• Communication skills
• written oral empathising
• Ability to work effectively in teams / groups
• lack of group work in many traditional degrees
• Applying theory to real-world situations
• prior experience has been too abstract or
  stylised
• Understanding the requirements of employers

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You can find this presentation on

• www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/archive/employability.p
  pt