What Economic Research Institute does
The Economic Research Institute performs various research activities using political science expertise, and basically develops concepts, theories, and operational techniques for economics, and conducts surveys and analyses on various issues, and writes academic papers and reports. The Economic Research Institute mainly grasps, analyzes, and forecasts the domestic and international economic situation. It conducts research divided into specialized fields such as institutions, finance, labor, and regions, and conducts research on a wide range of fields, from rural and fishing village economies to international trade and trade issues due to environmental changes.
It conducts research to help establish economic policies, such as regulating the supply of funds, domestic and foreign monetary policies, investment and fund conversion, and collects data related to research areas such as employment, productivity, wages, and time. It reviews and analyzes economic-related data and prepares them to be presented in charts.
Like other social science researchers, the Economic Research Institute usually conducts research activities alone or in teams with several people. Usually, a master's-level researcher and a doctoral-level research director work together, and the research director oversees the team's work, such as setting and checking the research direction and progress. Some also teach at universities or related institutions.
Work environment of Economic Research Institute
The Economic Research Institute usually works full-time, and some can work part-time. They usually work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but sometimes work overtime to continue their research. The busiest time of the year is when they start and finish their research projects. The work is mostly done in the laboratory, but they also attend seminars and academic conferences, and travel abroad or to local areas for data collection.
The research form is based on individual research, but there are many cases where researchers conduct joint research on the same research topic. There are also many opportunities for experts from each field to gather, discuss, and find solutions to problems. The working environment is generally pleasant, as they use personal laboratories or joint laboratories by field. They are not exposed to dangerous situations at work, as they do not conduct experimental research like natural science researchers.
How to become an Economic Researcher
To become an Economic Research Institute, you must have a master's degree or higher in economics. When you enter a master's or doctoral program, you choose your specific field of expertise, and you usually conduct research in related fields in the future. When you enter graduate school, you learn various concepts, theories, and research methods for economics, and learn the research methods necessary for conducting research.
In particular, to become an Economic Research Institute, it is necessary to participate in various research projects at home and abroad or to work as a research assistant (RA) at a related research institute and accumulate various research experiences. In the case of corporate-affiliated economic research institutes, they mainly hire doctoral degree holders, and they also hire doctoral degree holders from economics-related disciplines such as political science, law, and economics.
Aptitude and interest
You should have an interest in and a desire to solve social phenomena and problems such as politics, economy, and society. You need social scientific skills to examine and analyze a lot of data and derive new facts or results. Economics deals with a lot of mathematics, so you need a strong tendency for science, and you need to have specialized knowledge of IT technology or science and technology, as all industries are combined with science and technology. You also need to have the writing and communication skills to write and present your research results in papers or reports, and at seminars or symposiums.
As there are more opportunities to attend overseas seminars and academic conferences, foreign communication skills are increasingly emphasized. Because there are many long-term research projects, you also need planning and consistent and sincere attitude to take responsibility for your research tasks until the end. Since there are many cases where you form a team and conduct research, you need a good interpersonal skill to respect and accept the opinions of other researchers.
Career development of Economic Research Institute
The Economic Research Institute advances to government-funded research institutes, corporate-affiliated and private economic research institutes, and university-affiliated research institutes. There are differences in hiring methods depending on the institution, but when there is a vacancy, researchers are publicly hired, and the hiring process is usually conducted based on document screening, public seminar, and evaluation of research papers and achievements. After joining, you will be promoted through stages according to the rank system of each research institution, and the trend is to emphasize individual research performance in evaluation.
Some people who find it attractive to use their research results and teach switch to university professors. Because they conduct research activities based on professional knowledge, they need to continuously learn new theories and acquire new research methods to enhance their expertise. It is important to continuously develop the expertise of the sub-major in economics, so consistent efforts are required to increase research performance such as research paper presentation.
Job outlook for Economic Research Institute
As the world economy experiences a long-term recession, the government and general companies' economic trend analysis and countermeasure research activities are expected to continue. The research in the field of economics that analyzes various economic situations due to youth unemployment, including economic outlook, will also continue, and the demand for researchers in this field is expected to increase in the future. Employment and job issues, industrial structure changes, etc. are also topics where active research activities are conducted. In addition, environmental economics, which approaches environmental problem solving economically, and research fields that analyze the economic impact assessment due to environmental issues, are also expected to increase the demand for Economic Research Institute.
Due to the global economic environment, the employment of Economic Research Institute will increase in the field of researching and analyzing not only the domestic economic situation but also the world economy. However, in the case of large corporate economic research institutes or government-funded research institutes, where Economic Research Institute mainly advances, there is basically a limit to the increase in manpower, and university-affiliated research institutes are also unstable in employment. Although there are more research institutes or research institutions that Economic Research Institute can get a job than other social science researchers, it is not easy to create new jobs unlike the situation where the interest in economic problems is high and the research topics are expanded.
Even if the research problems are diversified, there are more cases where projects are commissioned to universities or affiliated research institutes, so there will be limitations in creating new jobs such as establishing economic research institutes. In the case of large corporate economic research institutes, they are recognized as good employment places in terms of working environment, but they need research experience or noticeable achievements in addition to obtaining a doctoral degree, so the competition for employment is very fierce. There are also many highly skilled workers who enter from prestigious universities at home and abroad, so it is expected that they will have to compete fiercely to enter large corporate economic research institutes or government-funded research institutions that have good working environment, high employment stability, or excellent salary and welfare benefits.
