Career education should be structured with multidimensional and practical content to prepare students for the rapidly evolving job market. Traditional career education has primarily focused on personal aspects, such as aptitude and interests. This study highlights the necessity of integrating economic perspectives into career education, emphasizing that economic-life competency plays a crucial role in sustainable career planning. The objective of this study is to analyze the levels of economic-life competency and career-design competency among middle school students, examine gender differences, and explore the relationship between these competencies. The findings indicate that both economic-life competency and career-design competency among middle school students are at a moderate level. A significant positive correlation was found between the two competencies, with ‘earning competency‘(a sub-factor of economic-life competency) exhibiting the strongest correlation with career-design competency. Additionally, earning competency was positively associated with all three sub-factors of career-design competency: self-understanding competency, career information exploration competency, and career planning competency. These results suggest that incorporating economic-life competency into career education can enhance students’ ability to plan and pursue their careers effectively. This study contributes to the enhancement of future career education programs by integrating economic perspectives, emphasizing the importance of financial literacy in sustainable career development. The findings serve as a foundational resource for designing educational strategies that foster financial literacy and career planning skills, ultimately supporting students in achieving long-term career sustainability.