Questions about placement? Contact our placement officer Robert Townsend or placement administrator Shannon May.
Job Market
Placement History
The department plays an active role in assisting graduate students with career placement. In a typical year, every MIT Economics PhD graduate finds a job.
Over the past six years, the department has placed a total of 130 graduates in academic, research, and government jobs. Of these, 90 graduates (69%) chose positions at academic institutions and 36 graduates (28%) chose non-academic positions. Of the 90 academic placements, 35 (39%) were at top-15 US economics departments or top-10 US business schools. The tables below break out these proportions for each cohort and highlight some of our top placements.
All placements, 2018-2023
| Year | Academic | Non-Academic | Academic: Top Depts. |
| 2023 | 72% | 28% | 46% |
| 2022 | 63% | 38% | 33% |
| 2021 | 79% | 21% | 29% |
| 2020 | 66% | 34% | 26% |
| 2019 | 61% | 22% | 43% |
| 2018 | 73% | 27% | 56% |
| 6-Year Average | 69% | 28% | 39% |
Placements to top economics departments and business schools, 2018-2023
| School | Placements |
| Chicago Booth | 4 |
| Harvard Business School | 3 |
| Harvard University | 2 |
| MIT | 1 |
| Northwestern Kellog | 1 |
| Northwestern University | 2 |
| NYU | 2 |
| Princeton University | 2 |
| Stanford GSB | 2 |
| UC Berkeley | 2 |
| UC Berkeley-Haas | 1 |
| Wharton | 2 |
| Yale | 4 |