Bridging the gap: A road map to reform
The problem requires a collective effort from all the stakeholders such as policy makers and higher education institutions to bridge the gap in the current curricula and what the industry wants.
• Curriculum upgradation – the discipline of economics provides immense scope for coding, technology integration such as AI tools and technical simulations using the economic data.
• Selection of relevant internships – Many students in their internships end up doing data entry work and do not learn any skill as employers find them incompatible with other work which requires strong technical foundations.
• Vocational training & certifications – Encouraging students to pursue certifications in data science, financial analytics, and AI applications to enhance their employability.
• Training of faculty members – All of these initiatives would only work if the existing faculty members are trained in skills like Machine Learning, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python and R for Statistical Analysis. They must also have access to professional AI-enabled tools for research and curriculum development.
India’s demographic advantage presents a golden opportunity—but only if its graduates are equipped with the right tools to thrive in a fast-changing corporate world.
AI’s role in transforming economics careers
Today an economist’s role is multifaceted which requires a strong foundation of economic theory, but an even stronger base in quantitative techniques for data analytics, such as Power BI, Tableau and AI and ML algorithms to get insights from the data. AI has disrupted the job market and the key trends are:-
• Automation at entry-level Jobs – One of the characteristics of AI is to automate the routine work to save costs attached with it or in other words reduce the human need to perform the task.
• Hiring based on skills – Companies now hire graduates who can practically execute the tasks, so having a degree alone is not a sure ticket to a job anymore. A 2024 survey by McKinsey revealed that 35% of Indian employers now use AI-based hiring tools.
• Increased demand of AI-enabled research and policy evaluation – Individuals capable of using real time macroeconomic data and bringing out interesting insights with the application of AI tools are highly sought after in the corporate world.
• Surge in economic consultation and fintech work – recent trends have shown that AI is creating very niche employment opportunities for highly skilled individuals in the areas of finance, banking and decentralised finance.
Outdated economics curricula: A global issue
Reports from the international student initiative for pluralism in economics and rethinking economics have shown that many universities globally, have not modernized economics education, leading to a decline in the employability rates of economics graduates globally. It shows that:-
• 75% of universities lack meaningful integration of ecological economics and AI-driven economic analysis.
• Institutions such as SOAS University of London and University of Greenwich are challenging traditional neoclassical economics, promoting real-world applications over outdated models.
• Universities are failing to adapt to the changing dynamics in the job market and resistance to the curricula change is worsening the situation.