AI and the future of work for economists: rethinking economics education

Matthias Oschinski, Christian Spielmann and Sonali Subbu-Rathinam

Bristol Economics Discussion Papers from School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming labor markets, including the professions pursued by economics graduates. This paper investigates the evolving impacts of AI—particularly generative AI—on occupations commonly entered by U.S. economics graduates and examines the implications for economics education at the university level. Using Lightcast data on job profiles and postings from 2015 to 2023, we identify how occupational patterns and skill profiles for economics graduates have changed and analyze the likely impact of AI on the economists’ job market. Economics graduates enter roles with higher-than-average AI exposure and varying degrees of task complementarity, suggesting that AI is likely to have substantive impacts on these jobs, with some effects already evident. We argue that university curricula must adapt to these changes to better prepare graduates for the AI-augmented workplace.

Date: 2025-04-02
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