I manage our PhD program in economics. We are not highly ranked yet our students do well on the job market. The bigger hurdle is getting into a PhD program. The

I manage our PhD program in economics. We are not highly ranked yet our students do well on the job market. The bigger hurdle is getting into a PhD program. The qualifications of the applicants that we can't make a first-round offer from our program is astonishing. There are definitely some parts of economics you want to avoid though. If you're interested in anything that fits in the "Freakanomics" classification, the job market is going to be challenging, and I'd personally not recommend getting a PhD if that is your area of interest. I chaired a search for a labor economics faculty position a couple years ago and found their job market to be absolutely brutal. Many, many top candidates with good publications were applying as postdocs. Some of them, in spite of their outstanding publications, could not find academic jobs even after completing the postdoc. I don't think any of them will be living in poverty. A tough job market nonetheless.