Economists
Most tasks score high and the scores agree. Expect the role to be reorganised.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
🤖 Written with AIThis text was written by artificial intelligence from the data points shown; it is built on verified figures but may contain mistakes.· 12/10/2026How is it made?
With an exposure score of 55/100, economists face significant AI augmentation in routine data compilation and forecasting. Professional demand remains resilient, shifting emphasis toward evaluating complex political trade-offs, strategic policy design, and contextual interpretation.
What changes
- Automated processing of employment, wage, and labor force data will accelerate labor market analyses.
- AI systems will streamline economic data compilation, statistical modeling, and baseline trend interpretation.
- Algorithmic pipelines will automate recurring forecasts for interest rates, exchange rates, income, and expenditures.
What stays human
- Evaluating political decisions on public finance and reconciling economic trade-offs with policy makers.
- Negotiating corporate strategies, feasibility studies, and actionable investment decisions with key stakeholders.
- Investigating nuanced on-the-ground market dynamics and contextual pricing behaviors in local economies.
What to learn
- Integrating generative AI and machine learning tools into traditional econometric pipelines.
- Translating complex empirical findings into clear, persuasive policy briefs for non-technical executives.
- Mastering causal inference and structural modeling to rigorously challenge machine-generated correlations.
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Analysing factors that determine labour force participation, employment, wages, unemployment and other labour market outcomes65
- Compiling, analysing and interpreting economic data using economic theory and a variety of statistical and other techniques64
- Preparing forecasts of income and expenditure, interest rates and exchange rates62
- Formulating recommendations, policies and plans for the economy, corporate strategies and investment, and undertaking feasibility studies for projects58
- Applying mathematical formulae and statistical techniques and apply to test economic theories and devise solutions to economic problems57
- Evaluating the outcome of political decisions concerning public economy and finances and advising on economic policy and possible courses of action in the light of past, present and projected economic factors and trends57
- Monitoring economic data to assess the effectiveness, and advise on the appropriateness, of monetary and fiscal policies57
- Examining problems related to the economic activities of individual companies56
- Forecasting production and consumption of specific products and services based on records of past production and consumption and general economic and industry-specific conditions54
- Preparing scholarly papers and reports54
- Forecasting changes in the economic environment for short-term budgeting, long-term planning and investment evaluation47
- Conducting research on market conditions in local, regional or national areas to set sales and pricing levels for goods and services, to assess market potential and future trends and to develop business strategies.35
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Analysing factors that determine labour force participation, employment, wages, unemployment and other labour market outcomes(65)
- Compiling, analysing and interpreting economic data using economic theory and a variety of statistical and other techniques(64)
- Preparing forecasts of income and expenditure, interest rates and exchange rates(62)
- Formulating recommendations, policies and plans for the economy, corporate strategies and investment, and undertaking feasibility studies for projects(58)
- Applying mathematical formulae and statistical techniques and apply to test economic theories and devise solutions to economic problems(57)
- Evaluating the outcome of political decisions concerning public economy and finances and advising on economic policy and possible courses of action in the light of past, present and projected economic factors and trends(57)
- Monitoring economic data to assess the effectiveness, and advise on the appropriateness, of monetary and fiscal policies(57)
- Examining problems related to the economic activities of individual companies(56)
- Forecasting production and consumption of specific products and services based on records of past production and consumption and general economic and industry-specific conditions(54)
- Preparing scholarly papers and reports(54)
- Forecasting changes in the economic environment for short-term budgeting, long-term planning and investment evaluation(47)
- Conducting research on market conditions in local, regional or national areas to set sales and pricing levels for goods and services, to assess market potential and future trends and to develop business strategies.(35)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 55.)
About 83% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Analysing factors that determine labour force participation, employment, wages, unemployment and other labour market outcomes
- • Compiling, analysing and interpreting economic data using economic theory and a variety of statistical and other techniques
- • Conducting research on market conditions in local, regional or national areas to set sales and pricing levels for goods and services, to assess market potential and future trends and to develop business strategies.
- • Forecasting changes in the economic environment for short-term budgeting, long-term planning and investment evaluation
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Legal, social and cultural professionals group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Legal, social and cultural professionals |
|---|---|
| Luxembourg | 9.6% · 32 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 4.5% · 444 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 4.3% · 227 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 4.1% · 70 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 3.8% · 197 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 3.6% · 109 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 3.5% · 153 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 3.5% · 35 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 3.4% · 99 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 3.4% · 1,162 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 3.3% · 49 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 3.3% · 1,412 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 3.3% · 86 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 3.3% · 154 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 3.3% · 964 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 3.2% · 146 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 3.2% · 156 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 3.1% · 16 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 3.1% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 3.1% · 695 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 3.1% · 21 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 3.1% · 90 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 2.9% · 153 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 2.7% · 72 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 2.6% · 136 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 2.5% · 601 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 2.5% · 22 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 2.4% · 68 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 2.2% · 386 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 1.9% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 1.9% · 147 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Professionals). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland6,389
- Luxembourg5,274
- Ireland4,873
- Germany4,807
- Belgium4,799
- Denmark4,446
- Norway4,237
- Austria4,099
- Netherlands4,031
- Iceland3,875
- EU273,850
- France3,791
- Finland3,769
- Romania3,559
- Sweden3,416
- Spain3,413
- Slovenia3,326
- Italy3,305
- Cyprus3,271
- Lithuania3,221
- Croatia2,890
- Czechia2,871
- Malta2,825
- Poland2,783
- Hungary2,777
- Portugal2,755
- Latvia2,671
- Estonia2,599
- Bulgaria2,359
- Slovakia2,345
- Greece2,321
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Legal, social and cultural professionals group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?