"Studying economics has led to such interesting opportunities for me. It is more than dollars and cents and can be applied to so many different and interesting problems.

With my economics degree, I have thought about 'how does the government assess the effectiveness of policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people', 'how to better target the COVID-19 vaccine rollout' and, now I am thinking about 'how to set up our migration system for success once borders open'.

Economics has so many different applications – you’re never limited to just one area.

An economics degree also gives me the flexibility to work a variety of different jobs. At the Productivity Commission, I worked on long-term policy research,  summarising the evidence to produce recommendations for government. At the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, I was working on quick-turnaround data analytics to track the vaccine rollout. There’s no end to what you can do with an economics degree – it gives such a strong grounding to think through different problems (both in theory and empirically)."

- Tyler Reysenbach

Tyler is an associate at the Grattan Institute. Previously, she worked as a data analyst in the Central Analytics Hub at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on topics including the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and Australia’s reopening. She started her career at the Productivity Commission working on the Indigenous Evaluation Strategy and Vulnerable Supply Chains inquiries.  Tyler graduated from UWA in 2018 after completing her Honours looking at the effect on migrant networks on labour market outcomes.

"Hi, I’m Serena! Some background about me: I graduated from UWA at the end of 2019 after completing my Honours in Economics, with an undergraduate degree majoring in Economics and Finance. I then started my career as an analyst in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Graduate program. After working there for a couple years, I moved back to Perth and I am currently an analyst in the Economic and Revenue Forecasting team at the WA Department of Treasury.

So: why choose to study economics?

There are many reasons, but to put it simply, economics is everywhere and studying it allows us to better understand the world around us. It teaches you to look at the world more critically, and helps to explain a variety of questions from ‘why is fuel so expensive right now?’ to ‘why are women on average still being paid less than men?’.

For me personally, studying and working in economics has allowed me to contribute to a range of really exciting work. As you can imagine, starting my career at the beginning of 2020 was a bit of a rollercoaster. I had only worked at the RBA for 6 weeks when we first went into lockdown. My role at the time was in the International Financial Markets team, where I focused on monitoring developments in Chinese fiscal and monetary policy and the evolution of their financial system. This work was used to keep senior management and the Board informed about major market developments and inform policy discussions at the RBA. Watching the policy landscape change so quickly throughout the COVID-19 crisis and having the opportunity to contribute to discussions that ultimately lead to the use of unconventional monetary policy for the first time in Australia was an incredible experience that I am very thankful for.

If that wasn’t convincing enough, you can travel! While the specific conditions will vary wherever you are, the economic fundamentals that you learn at uni can be taken with you and applied in almost any place/job. Many of my past and present colleagues have worked all over the world doing all sorts of amazing work, from working at the IMF or BIS in the US and Europe, to tackling development issues and foreign aid in Asia and the Pacific.

And for those that are interested in economics, but aren’t necessarily sure if it’s what you want to do as a career - don’t think studying economics means you can only become an economist. Even if you choose to pursue a career outside of the economics field, you will be surprised at how often you apply the knowledge you learn in only a few economics courses at uni. Your economics knowledge will only ever broaden your skillset and make you more employable, regardless of what path in life you choose."

- Serena Russell

"After finishing my Bachelor of Commerce at UWA, I completed an Honours in Economics. I was interested in assessing how the economy affects mental wellbeing, and my thesis investigated links between job insecurity, macroeconomic conditions and the mental wellbeing of employed Australians (using the HILDA and ABS data). 

In 2019, I moved to Canberra to participate in the Productivity Commission’s graduate program. The Commission is the Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body, which is largely focused on economic issues that affect the welfare of Australians. As a graduate at the Commission, I worked on the Mental Health Inquiry (released in 2020), assessing government-run income and employment support programs for people with mental ill-health. From this work, a recommendation for the government to trial further expansion of the Individual Placement and Support program to assist people with mental illness to participate in the workforce was given $5.7 million in funding in the 2021-22 federal budget. 

For the last two years, my work has focused on electrical and electronic waste, such as waste TVs, computers and small appliances. This has included a chapter in the Commission’s Right to Repair inquiry on electrical and electronic waste, which looked into how this waste stream is managed. I continued to work on this waste stream as a secondee to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment as part of the Waste Reform and Integration Taskforce. Once my secondment has finished at the end of June, I will be returning to the Commission to work on the Closing the Gap reporting and data repository."

- Sophie Harwood