Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 19-3011, #280 of 1,410 by filings
Economists
- Biggest sponsor
- CORNERSTONE RESEARCH, INC. · 18% of its filings
- Busiest state
- DC · 19% of its filings
- Major group
- Life, physical and social science · SOC 19
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
This rate is level with the field
Over 116 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Why
The 95% interval runs up to a 4.7% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.
Median wage
$161,266
all PERM $103,272
Filings
119
#280 of 1,410
Approval
99.1%
field 96.8%
Median days
381
96 faster than the field
What it pays
Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.
Median offered wage
$161,266above 95%
Approval rate
99.1%ahead of 85%
Median days to decision
381 daysahead of 94%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
Who files it
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.
Sponsors filing it
- CORNERSTONE RESEARCH, INC. 22 filings
- CAPITAL ONE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 20 filings
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC 15 filings
- ANALYSIS GROUP INC. 11 filings
- BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 11 filings
- COMPASS LEXECON, LLC 4 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 83 of 119 filings, 70% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy, LLP 37 filings · 100.0% approved
- Foley Hoag LLP 22 filings
- Maggio Kattar Nahajzer Alexander PC 11 filings
- Seyfarth Shaw LLP 11 filings
- Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 7 filings
- Farrell LLP 4 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 92 of 119 filings, 77% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- District of Columbia 23
- New York 19
- Virginia 18
- Washington 18
- Massachusetts 12
- California 11
How this is counted
The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 101 of 119 filings.
Where the work is
- Washington, DC 23
- New York, NY 19
- McLean, VA 17
- Seattle, WA 17
- Boston, MA 10
- San Francisco, CA 5
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 91 of 119 filings.
- Every sponsor that files it, by state, approval rate, offered wage and time to a decision
- Every filing for it, PERM, wage requests and H-1B, case by case
Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023
From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.
Country of citizenship
- China 314
- India 276
- Canada 100
- Mexico 49
- Venezuela 48
- Germany 42
Worker's education
- Master's 625
- Doctorate 549
- Bachelor's 179
- Other 50
- None 7
- Associate's 1
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 991
- F-1 156
- TN 71
- L-1 38
- J-1 20
- NOT IN USA 10
Schools
- NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 37
- DUKE UNIVERSITY 34
- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 31
- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 27
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY 26
- THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 26
Fields of study
- ECONOMICS 586
- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 240
- FINANCE 73
- APPLIED ECONOMICS 15
- AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 13
- PUBLIC POLICY 12
The job itself
What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.
- United States17,790 jobs
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVWashington, McLean
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJNew York
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WASeattle
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NHBoston
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CASan Francisco
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
- median PERM offer
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $124,720 | ||||
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $156,750 | $100,714 | $133,266 | $165,818 | $198,370 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $176,090 | $102,648 | $143,541 | $184,454 | $225,347 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $126,420 | $80,725 | $106,059 | $131,414 | $156,749 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $108,140 | $81,411 | $109,117 | $136,822 | $164,528 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $142,400 | $89,482 | $117,416 | $145,350 | $173,285 |
How these figures fit together
BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.
The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More
DOL's levels for this job in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, year by year
Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $100,714 | $133,266 | $165,818 | $198,370 |
| 2025-26 | $99,341 | $129,667 | $159,994 | $190,320 |
| 2024-25 | $96,782 | $127,192 | $157,622 | $188,032 |
| 2023-24 | $86,195 | $116,230 | $146,266 | $176,301 |
| 2022-23 | $83,096 | $110,094 | $137,114 | $164,112 |
| 2021-22 | $84,386 | $113,485 | $142,563 | $171,662 |
What the job is
Conduct research, prepare reports, or formulate plans to address economic problems related to the production and distribution of goods and services or monetary and fiscal policy. May collect and process economic and statistical data using sampling techniques and econometric methods.
- Preparation
- Extensive Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 5
- DOL's education basis
- Master's degree
- Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +4.7%
- About 1,100 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Master's degree
- BLS
Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth.
The work, most important first
- Study economic and statistical data in area of specialization, such as finance, labor, or agriculture.
- Compile, analyze, and report data to explain economic phenomena and forecast market trends, applying mathematical models and statistical techniques.
- Study the socioeconomic impacts of new public policies, such as proposed legislation, taxes, services, and regulations.
- Explain economic impact of policies to the public.
- Review documents written by others.
- Provide advice and consultation on economic relationships to businesses, public and private agencies, and other employers.
The education workers in it report
- 21%
Bachelor's Degree
- 50%
Master's Degree
- 25%
Doctoral Degree
Titles people use for it
Economic Analyst, Economic Consultant, Economist, Forensic Economist, Economic Advisor, Economic Development Specialist, Project Economist, Research Economist.
O*NET also describes Environmental Economists under this SOC code.
Related jobs: Environmental Economists, Economics Teachers, Postsecondary, Financial and Investment Analysts, Political Scientists, Business Teachers, Postsecondary, Financial Quantitative Analysts.
This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 280 of 1,410 by volume: 279 filed at least as many filings, and 1,130 filed no more.
- Just above
- Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants 119 filings
- Just below
- Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers 118 filings
Other life, physical and social science roles
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #312 Social Science Research Assistants 97 filings · 2 denied
- #317 Quality Control Analysts 95 filings · 3 denied
- #240 Food Scientists and Technologists 158 filings · 8 denied
- #233 Chemists 166 filings · 6 denied
- #222 Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists 184 filings · 2 denied
- #195 Bioinformatics Scientists 221 filings · 4 denied
The same job on H-1B
6,217 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $115,000 a year; the middle half ran $88,000 to $162,000. By state and year in the salary explorer.
Notes on these numbers
Reading the wage
A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.
What the median is
The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.
What these numbers don't say
4 notes
- The code is the identity
- This one is SOC 19-3011. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
- A median isn’t an offer
- It's the middle of all 119 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
- Approval isn’t about the occupation
- The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of Economists. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 119 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is CORNERSTONE RESEARCH, INC.. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built
Weighing an offer?
Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.
Setting one?
All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.
Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load
O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn
DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july
What each source includes
Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.
Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.
O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.
BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.
BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.
DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it