Natural Resource Economics

Types of Degrees Natural Resource Economics Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many environmental/natural resource economics graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Graduate Certificate	47
Master’s Degree	19
Doctor’s Degree	2

What Natural Resource Economics Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, natural resource economics majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Natural Resource Economics Majors

Natural Resource Economics majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Skills for Natural Resource Economics Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to natural resource economics:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Natural Resource Economics Majors

As a natural resource economics major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Economics?

The major attracts more women than men. About 68% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of natural resource economics majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	7
White	6
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	3

Geographic Diversity

Natural Resource Economics appeals to people across the globe. About 10.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Natural Resource Economics

Some careers associated with natural resource economics require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to natural resource economics have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	13.9%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	0.6%
Some College Courses	2.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	4.4%
Bachelor’s Degree	79.9%

Online Natural Resource Economics Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	4	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	5	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	3	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Natural Resource Economics

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to natural resource economics.

Major	Number of Grads
Environmental/Natural Resources Management and Policy	1,679
Water, Wetlands, & Marine Resources Management	365
Environmental/Natural Resources Management & Policy, Other	345
Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services	193
Environmental/Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism	185
Land Use Planning & Management/Development	85
Energy and Environmental Policy	81

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Brian M. Powell under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.