If you are are working towards a PhD in Economics—like myself—you may be interested in what the job market has in store for you when you graduate. If that is the case, you should check out an excellent article by John Cawley titled ‘A guide (and advice) for economists on the U.S. Junior Academic Job Market.’ Below are some charts from the paper.
First let’s look at the supply and demand for newly minted PhD Economists.
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | |
| Econ PhD’s granted by U.S. Universities | 998 | 927 | 948 | 930 | |||
| New Academic Jobs posted on JOE (includes Junior and Senior openings) | 1039 | 1154 | 1370 | 1540 | 1635 | 1589 | 1487 |
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Below are the expected earnings for a recent PhD graduate based on the type of academic institutions where he or she is hired.
| PhD-granting institution | MA-granting institutions | BA-granting Institution | Business School | |
| 1998-1999 | $57,685 | $50,769 | $42,352 | – |
| 1999-2000 | $59,546 | $55,390 | $47,411 | – |
| 2000-2001 | $67,173 | $52,960 | $50,908 | $75,400 |
| 2001-2002 | $69,112 | $59,091 | $57,107 | $81,100 |
| 2002-2003 | $74,371 | $62,358 | $56,614 | $84,100 |
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You can find much more helpful information about the job market process and tips to land a high-quality job by looking through the Cawley article.