Job Market Outcomes for Undergraduate Economics Majors

This paper explores labor market outcomes of undergraduate economics majors in the United States. Using 2014–2023 American Community Survey data on over four million individuals aged between 25 and 65 across all 50 states, we estimate the marginal effects of having three separate baccalaureate economics degrees—general, agricultural, and business—on wages and weeks worked per year. We find a positive and statistically significant effect of having an economics degree on earnings controlling for a large number of socioeconomic, individual, and state-level covariates. The evidence is most robust for general (non-business and non-agricultural) economics majors. We find little evidence that majoring in economics strongly affects the number of weeks worked per year or that occupational choice drives increased earnings, suggesting the estimated premium is driven primarily through wages rather than quantity supplied of labor or occupation type.