Minoring in Economics

Cheerios

Since I finished my second year of university in April, I've been constantly obsessing over what I should be doing with my life after I graduate. Although I have yet to find and answer to this question, the current economic situation has made me realize both the fragility of our system and the ugly fact that upon graduation that I will be faced with an unstable job market.

So, this leads me to my question: How useful would it be to get a minor in economics? Would it make me more employable? Just to clarify, right now I'm majoring in history. I've thought about changing majors before (which was the topic of another thread) but the general consensus on these forums stated it was unwise to switch this late in the game. This is why I was thinking a minor would be much easier to achieve, because it wouldn't require an additional 2 years of schooling.

So to simplify my question: What is the utility of a minor in economics? Is it worth my time and effort? and do employers even care about what you minored in?

Thanks in advance,

-C

Sentry

Very few employeers will care about your minor.

The best way to be employed after you graduate is to figure out what you want to do, then do as many internships in that field as you can.

Also, study abroad. It might not help you after you graduate (although it might help a lot) but it's a rare opportunity not enough people take advantage of.

Grundlestiltskin

Incidentally, your major at liberal arts colleges (I'm making an assumption based on the options you listed) doesn't matter much to employers in general. Liberal arts colleges are pretty good at not providing you with specific marketable skills.

Unless you major in hard sciences, then you're slightly better off.

DJ-99

The term "Minor" may or may not mean much to the majority of employers, but when your resume says something like "Relevant coursework includes: Financial Economics, Econometrics, Accounting, Advanced Macroeconomics" then many employers will take interest. These will be the types of employers in consulting, banking, and think-tank industries.

If you want to be a writer or a short-order cook, then yeah I don't think it matters. As mentioned, internships are the best way to get a job. However, having taken economics classes (or having a Minor) will increase your chances of getting a good internship in certain industries.

Reckless

If you've got time left in your 4-year college career to fit that minor in there, I'd go ahead and do it. I'm an International Relations major with an Econ minor currently, but my Uni's School of Business has been frustrating me to the point where I'm pretty sure I'll be changing minors.

Econ courses are great if you're interested in the subject material and you have a good professor. Having a background in Economics could never hurt your academic resume, either. A minor's not gonna land you a job, but it could give you an advantage in some situations. Plus it's really nice to have a good understanding of the absolute clusterfuck currently going down in the Econ world.

Kyougu

If you're looking for a minor to be more markatable in a field, why not do something along the lines of business?

kaliyama

There's no need for a "minor" - the value of any education is the content, not the label. I'd do the most skills-intensive economics courses you can get: the basic micro + macro courses, then econometrics, which should be a good algeba/calc/stats-focused course that will be very useful if you want to do consulting or analyst work. The value of an econ course is applied mathematics. The qualitative aspect of economics will be much less useful unless you're going to be an economist.