Employment prospects for "Foreign" Econ PhDs below top 20, or top 50

[hideo]

I do not know the racial composition of the users in this forum, but I do know that there are many foreign students in most of econ grad programs.
Given that people here seem to believe that econ phds from mid-ranked program should not have a problem in finding a job here in U.S.,
I'd like to start a new thread to discuss job prospects for foreign phds.

In my understanding, even if US job market for econ phds would be less favorable to internationals overall, due to the lack of English skills, those graduating from top 10 or 20 departments with an ok paper and fair recommendations should be able to find a job in US ,as long as the chance of landing in academic positions in research universities is more correlated with the quality of one's research in which foreign students have less of a disadvantage.

Then, just for the sake of convenience, assuming that
1.the quality of research decreases as the ranking goes down and
2.there is no heterogeneity in terms of language skills across foreign phd(imagine any foreign student with mediocre English skill in your class here),

How is the job prospect for a foreign phd from mid-ranked institution(Ohio or Virginia or Maryland?), who is purely interested in finding a job(it does not have to be a decent one here) in US?.
Which of the two is more likely, getting a job in teaching school VS getting a research position in think tanks or private sectors?
Any comments will be appreciated.

[sonicskat]

I guess it depends on the school you go to. I'm not implying any causation, but schools below the top 50 generally place phds in the private sector more than academics. This is not only based on how competitive the market is, but also students' interests. These schools are typically composed of more foreign students. Whether this means foreign students go to the school for private sector jobs, i don't know? It might mean that there are only private sector jobs available, i don't really know.

I would say that it would be extremely extremely hard to get a phd from a place ranked below 50 and then get a job at a higher ranked institution. Typically new graduates get a job at a school significantly lower until they prove themselves through research. However, it all depends on the individual.

[notacolour]

I can say this: with a PhD in economics (even from a school ranked much lower than Ohio or Virginia or Maryland), you will get a job in the US. Whether this job is exactly what you want is another issue, but you will have little trouble getting a job, if getting any job at all is your goal.


If lack of English skills is really that big of a problem, it needs to be something you're focusing on improving while in the PhD program. You're going to have 5 or so years in an American city, surrounded by English speakers--use it to your advantage!