A recent studies in United States have shown that economics graduate makes the most earnings as compared to banking/finance & engineering?
“So why are econ grads so good at making it rain? Part of it is that the finance and consulting industries like recruiting them, not necessarily for their specific skills, but because they consider the major a basic intelligence test… ” – due to the higher tertiary education provided, economics graduate are deemed the most practical among all other majors. Ultimately, we study the assumption of rationalism so often that we are trained to “act on the best interest” for ourselves and for the organization. This may be one of the key factors why Economic graduates are more desirable than other disciplines.
“There’s also an element of self-selection. Plenty of engineers have the math skills to hack it at a bank (film fans may recall Stanley Tucci’s speech about how he once built a bridge in Margin Call), but choose a slightly less lucrative but probably more fulfilling career path. Not everyone wants to spend a career turning money into more money. No matter how well it pays.” – and yes, the engineers have paved way for the economics graduates as they are more likely to choose a less paying job but more work life-balance.
Disclaimer: only applicable to the United States job market. Singapore students please refer to this studies with some discretion. smile emoticon