Economist

Economist prepares and delivers essential services using both skills and systems with 19 detailed tasks listed. Expect plain steps, common terms, and notes on how the work affects outcomes. Each one shows where we found it, and comes with an AI prompt you can copy and use straight away.

19evidenced tasks
19ready prompts
8tools of the trade
19-3011.00O*NET-SOC code
17,790hold this job (US, BLS 2025)
$124,720median pay/yr (US)
Open Economist in the interactive atlas →

What it pays

Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.

Half of all Economists in the U.S. earn more than $124,720 a year — the middle 80% land between $67,360 and $238,060. About 17,790 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Economists”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Professionals earn about ₹38,298 a month on average — around ₹4.6 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$124,720typical pay / year
17,790people in this work
$238,060+top 10% earn
₹4.6 lakha year in India (family avg)
Think you get this job?Six quick questions on how it really works — with a hint and the reason behind every answer.
Test yourself →

The work, task by task

These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.

Analysing3

Teach theories, principles, and methods of economics.

+
Teach the master's level course covering supply and demand, welfare analysis, game theory, and econometric…
Teach the master's level course covering supply and demand, welfare analysis, game theory, and econometric methods to the economics cohort starting Monday, prepare three problem sets with data exercises and a two-hour exam, and post readings by Friday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordMicrosoft PowerPointESCOjob descriptionsO*NET

Analyze market activity and trends

+
Analyze last quarter's market transactions across retail and wholesale channels, identify demand shifts and…
Analyze last quarter's market transactions across retail and wholesale channels, identify demand shifts and price elasticity changes, produce a one-page executive summary and charts showing trend breaks for the trading desk by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Power BIjob descriptionsWikipedia

Analyse statistical data

+
Clean and validate the panel dataset of household income and consumption, run descriptive statistics and…
Clean and validate the panel dataset of household income and consumption, run descriptive statistics and regression diagnostics, produce a reproducible table of summary statistics and attach the cleaned dataset and code by Tuesday noon.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft ExcelESCOjob descriptions
Convincing3

Write about economic policy

+
Draft a policy brief on the proposed corporate tax change, include cost–benefit analysis, distributional…
Draft a policy brief on the proposed corporate tax change, include cost–benefit analysis, distributional effects across income deciles, three policy alternatives and a two-page recommendation for the finance minister by next Friday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordESCOWikipedia

Forecast economic trends

+
Build a quarterly macro forecast model projecting GDP growth, unemployment, inflation, and real consumption…
Build a quarterly macro forecast model projecting GDP growth, unemployment, inflation, and real consumption under three scenarios using historical series and parameter assumptions; produce a one-page executive summary for Director Chen by next Friday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft PowerPointESCOjob descriptionsWikipedia

Evaluate policy impacts

+
Run an impact assessment of the proposed tariff change: estimate sectoral output, employment and welfare…
Run an impact assessment of the proposed tariff change: estimate sectoral output, employment and welfare effects using the latest national accounts and a difference-in-differences specification, and send a draft memo with methods and caveats to policy team by Tuesday.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS Statisticsjob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
The daily work13

Study how societies allocate resources

+
Quantify how households, firms and government in the region allocate scarce resources over the last decade,…
Quantify how households, firms and government in the region allocate scarce resources over the last decade, assemble the time series and cross‑section data, run comparative marginal analysis, and draft a two‑page policy brief with figures for Friday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft Exceljob descriptionsWikipedia

Study international trade and global economics

+
Analyze bilateral trade flows and tariff changes across the past fifteen years, construct gravity‑model…
Analyze bilateral trade flows and tariff changes across the past fifteen years, construct gravity‑model regressions, produce a summary table of results with significance levels, and prepare a slide with policy implications for Monday's meeting.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft Exceljob descriptionsWikipedia

Study economic and statistical data in area of specialization, such as finance, labor, or agriculture.

+
Compile and clean datasets for finance, labor and agricultural indicators in my specialization, run the…
Compile and clean datasets for finance, labor and agricultural indicators in my specialization, run the agreed statistical tests and robustness checks, and produce a one‑page methodology note plus data appendix ready for the working paper.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft SQL ServerIBM SPSS StatisticsO*NET

Review documents written by others.

+
Read the draft literature review and methods section from Sara, annotate where assumptions are unsupported or…
Read the draft literature review and methods section from Sara, annotate where assumptions are unsupported or data needs clarification, suggest three concrete edits to improve identification, and return the marked file with comments by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordO*NET

Supervise research projects and students' study projects.

+
Set up supervision milestones for the three PhD projects, review their current drafts and datasets, list…
Set up supervision milestones for the three PhD projects, review their current drafts and datasets, list missing robustness tests for each, and email students the revised timeline and required deliverables before our lab meeting Thursday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft WordO*NET

Provide litigation support, such as writing reports for expert testimony or testifying as an expert witness.

+
Prepare an expert report quantifying lost profits for the claimant, document data sources and assumptions,…
Prepare an expert report quantifying lost profits for the claimant, document data sources and assumptions, run sensitivity analyses, and produce a sworn summary and exhibits suitable for court filing by next Tuesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordMicrosoft ExcelO*NET

Collect financial and socioeconomic data

+
Assemble and clean financial and socioeconomic datasets from national accounts, household surveys, and trade…
Assemble and clean financial and socioeconomic datasets from national accounts, household surveys, and trade statistics for 2010–2025, harmonise variable definitions, document missingness, and produce a single analysis-ready table with source citations.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Exceljob descriptions

Communicate findings via reports and presentations

+
Draft a concise report and a slide deck that summarises methodology, key findings, three policy…
Draft a concise report and a slide deck that summarises methodology, key findings, three policy recommendations with quantified impacts, and an appendix of data tables and robustness checks for presentation to the energy policy team next Wednesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft Wordjob descriptions

Participate in think tanks and publish research

+
Prepare a paper and policy brief for submission to the climate think tank: draft literature review, methods…
Prepare a paper and policy brief for submission to the climate think tank: draft literature review, methods section with equations and identification assumptions, present empirical results, and produce a two‑page executive summary for circulation to partners by the end of the month.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft Wordjob descriptions

Conduct financial statement analysis

+
Analyse last three years of audited financial statements for the energy sector to compute profitability,…
Analyse last three years of audited financial statements for the energy sector to compute profitability, leverage, liquidity ratios, and trend regressions, interpret deviations from industry norms, and flag signs of structural distress or one‑off items.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelWikipedia

Study trends

+
Examine macroeconomic and sector datasets to detect and quantify trends in demand, prices, technology…
Examine macroeconomic and sector datasets to detect and quantify trends in demand, prices, technology adoption, and trade flows over the past decade, fit trend models, test for structural breaks, and summarise implications for the next five years.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsESCO

Advise on product feasibility

+
Estimate whether the new portable water filter can reach break-even within two years: model unit costs,…
Estimate whether the new portable water filter can reach break-even within two years: model unit costs, variable margins at price points 20, 25, 30 dollars, forecast demand using comparable product launch data, include sensitivity to adoption rate and one major cost shock, and flag key assumptions.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelESCO

Advise on tax policies

+
Assess proposed changes to the local sales tax: quantify distributional effects across income deciles over…
Assess proposed changes to the local sales tax: quantify distributional effects across income deciles over five years, estimate revenue change under three behavioral response scenarios, calculate short-run and long-run GDP impact, and write a two-page brief listing trade-offs for the finance committee.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft WordESCO

Says who?

These are the pages we read to build this. Open any of them and check us.

O*NET 19-3011.00BLS pay surveyBLS OEWS 2025UK NOS FSPISM10WikipediaESCObetterteam.comscu.eduwhat people in this job say

The logs, files & records this job keeps

Shared with other careers — the same record means something different in each.

statistics

Related careers

Same family of work — each with its own tasks and prompts.

MicroeconomistMacroeconomistDevelopment EconomistBehavioral EconomistEnvironmental EconomistHealth EconomistLabor EconomistTrade EconomistEconomic Research AnalystData Analyst Economics
The LLOS Work Atlas is the world's largest evidenced task library — a map of human work, with a ready prompt behind every task. 1,774 careers · every task named by the sources that witnessed it — O*NET, ESCO, real job descriptions, Wikipedia — and the deepest tasks by several at once. And it is honest about limits: where AI cannot help, the map says so.

The rest of the map

Same library, five ways in.

Work Atlasthe whole map, interactiveCareers1,949 jobs and their real tasksSoft skillsthe human part of the workSoftwaretools, by the work they doActivities500 things people doPrompt Librarybrowse every prompt
Copyright © LLOS.ai · 2026 — original pedagogy, voice, and design — all rights reserved.
Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses