Erika L. McEntarfer is the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For most of her career she had been an economic researcher at the U.S. Census Bureau.
McEntarfer was nominated for the BLS post in July, 2023, and confirmed to the position by the U.S. Senate in January, 2024. [1] [2] [3] She started in the position on January 31, 2024.
McEntarfer received a bachelor's degree in Social Science from Bard College and a Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech. [4]
She took a position as a labor economist at the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies (CES). [4] She was promoted to senior supervisory economist for the Labor Markets section of the CES. She focused on employment, promotion patterns, and earnings of U.S. workers, particularly using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) data set which has matched data on employers and employees. [5]
In periods away from the Census Bureau, McEntarfer had been on the economic staff of the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy in 2008-2010, and immediately before her appointment to the BLS had been on the nonpolitical staff of the White House Council of Economic Advisers for a year. [6] [7]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. The BLS collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor representatives. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the United States Department of Labor, and conducts research measuring the income levels families need to maintain a satisfactory quality of life.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, the NLRB has the authority to supervise elections for labor union representation and to investigate and remedy unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of protected concerted activity.
A producer price index (PPI) is a price index that measures the average changes in prices received by domestic producers for their output. Formerly known as the wholesale price index between 1902 and 1978, the index is made up of over 16,000 establishments providing approximately 64,000 price quotations that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) compiles each month to represent thousands of different goods and services.
Politicians and pundits frequently refer to the ability of the president of the United States to "create jobs" in the U.S. during his term in office. The numbers are most often seen during the election season or in regard to a president's economic legacy. The numbers typically used and most frequently cited by economists are total nonfarm payroll employment numbers as collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on a monthly and annual basis. The BLS also provides numbers for private-sector non-farm employment and other subsets of the aggregate.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development defines the employment rate as the employment-to-population ratio. This is a statistical ratio that measures the proportion of a country's working age population that is employed. This includes people that have stopped looking for work. The International Labour Organization states that a person is considered employed if they have worked at least 1 hour in "gainful" employment in the most recent week.
Cecilia Elena Rouse is an American economist and the President of the Brookings Institution. She served as the 30th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers between 2021 and 2023. She is the first Black American to hold this position. Prior to this, she served as the dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Joe Biden nominated Rouse to be Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in November 2020. Rouse was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate on March 2, 2021, by a vote of 95–4. She resigned on March 31, 2023 to return to teaching. On June 28, she was named the 9th President of the Brookings Institution.
The International Labor Comparisons Program (ILC) of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) adjusts economic statistics to a common conceptual framework in order to make data comparable across countries. Its data can be used to evaluate the economic performance of one country relative to that of other countries and to assess international competitiveness.
Unemployment in the United States discusses the causes and measures of U.S. unemployment and strategies for reducing it. Job creation and unemployment are affected by factors such as economic conditions, global competition, education, automation, and demographics. These factors can affect the number of workers, the duration of unemployment, and wage levels.
Keith Hall served as the Director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office from 2015 to 2019. He was the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from January 2008 until January 2012. He previously worked at the Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Adriana Debora Kugler is an American economist who serves as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She previously served as U.S. executive director at the World Bank, nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2022. She is a professor of public policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and is currently on leave from her tenured position at Georgetown. She served as the Chief Economist to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis from September 6, 2011 to January 4, 2013.
Erica Lynn Groshen is the former Commissioner of Labor Statistics and head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the independent, principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad fields of labor economics and statistics, inflation, and productivity. BLS is part of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Isador Lubin was the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1933 to 1946, and president of the American Statistical Association in 1946.
Janet Lippe Norwood was an American statistician and the first female Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) when she was appointed in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. She was reappointed twice by President Reagan. She left the Bureau in 1991 and joined the Urban Institute as a Senior Fellow, a position she held until 1999. She was also appointed as the Chair of the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, first by President George H. W. Bush in 1993 and then re-elected by President Bill Clinton. She stepped down from that position in 1996. She received numerous awards including several honorary doctorate degrees from academic institutions, including Harvard University.
Katharine G. Abraham is an American economist who is the director of the Maryland Center for Economics and Policy, and a professor of survey methodology and economics at the University of Maryland. She was commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1993–2001 and a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2011–2013. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.
Aryness Joy Wickens was an American economist and statistician who served as acting commissioner of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and as president of the American Statistical Association, and who helped develop the United States Consumer Price Index.
Kathleen Utgoff, an American economist, was Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2002–2006.
William W. Beach is the former Commissioner of Labor Statistics and head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), an independent U.S. government fact-finding agency focused on labor economics and statistics, inflation, and productivity.
Julius Shiskin was an American economist. He is known for his contributions to establishing rules in the field of economic statistics. His 1974 unofficial rule-of-thumb definition of a recession continues to be considered by many as the official definition. He authored two books and numerous articles in the field of statistics, and served as the ninth U.S. Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1973 until his death.