How to become an Economist

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 经济学研究人员

Studies economic theory and uses economic principles to find answers to real economic problems.

Main tasks

• Studying the production, distribution, circulation and consumption of goods and services, and the market trends, prices, credit, employment and productivity questions that follow
• Collecting and analysing economic data and building mathematical models to explain and forecast economic activity
• Researching economic systems, economic history, the history of economic thought and research methods
• Researching economic questions in industry, regions, public finance and tax, banking and international trade
• Researching economic questions in logistics and delivery, e-commerce and online shopping
• Researching how data and other new factors of production can raise productivity

Ways in

• University: Business & Commerce degrees, Offered by 105 universities in China Related undergraduate subject classes in the Ministry of Education catalogue (2025): Economics (0201); Public Finance (0202); Finance (0203); majors such as Economics, Economic Statistics, Taxation, Financial Engineering, Insurance, Investment. Matched to the occupation by Peernovo.

Pay · AI and this job

• Median pay in Guangzhou: CN¥97,997 a year (2025).
• Middle half: CN¥63,873 to CN¥149,392. One in ten earn less than CN¥51,750 and one in ten more than CN¥210,000.
• This is the figure for the mid group Scientific Researchers, not for this job alone.
• Guangzhou only, not a national figure: wage prices of enterprise employees in the city. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
• Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• The census group Scientific Researchers holds 0.07% of everyone employed in China; 41.6% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
• 48.6% are under 35, 44.1% are 35 to 54 and 7.4% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 35 to 39.
• Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

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Questions people ask

How do I become an Economist?

Ways in include: Business & Commerce degrees.

How much does an Economist earn in China?

In Guangzhou, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥97,997 a year (Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025). This is a Guangzhou figure, not a national one. It is the figure for the mid group Scientific Researchers.

Will AI change the work of an Economist?

Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau: Guangzhou 2025 labour market wage prices (P10 to P90 annual CNY by occupation) (2025 (enterprise pay survey)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 4 October 2026