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Harry J. Holzer

John LaFarge Jr. SJ Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University
Areas of Expertise:

About Harry

Harry J. Holzer is the John LaFarge SJ Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University and is a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings. He served as Chief Economist at the US Department of Labor in the Clinton Administration. His top interests include workforce education and training; employer wage-setting practices; and other policy issues (like the minimum wage; Earned Income Tax Credit; and immigration). He received his BA and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

No Jargon Podcast

In the News

Opinion: "Democrats Need Less Identity Politics, More Practical Economics," Harry J. Holzer, The Hill, November 23, 2024.
Quoted by Don Lee in "From 50-year Low to Fears of 20%? How Coronavirus is Fast Changing U.S. Jobless Rate," Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2020.
Quoted by Martha C. White in "Who's Got a Side Hustle? Postgrads and People Earning $80,000 or More," NBC News, June 4, 2019.
Quoted by Steve Matthews and Alex Tanzi in "Hold the Bubbly, Mr. President: Youth Jobs Are Far From Record," Bloomberg, August 17, 2018.
Guest on PBS Newshour, July 3, 2015.
Guest on NPR's All Things Considered, March 30, 2015.
Quoted by Ruth Graham in "How Criminal Records Hold Americans Back," Boston Globe, March 8, 2015.
Opinion: "Effects of Raising the Minimum Wage," Harry J. Holzer, New York Times, February 13, 2014.
Research discussed by Ed Kilgore, in "Reinvigorating Vo-Tech," Washington Monthly, October 29, 2013.
Opinion: "Immigration Reform Requires Consensus on Flow of Foreign Labor," Harry J. Holzer, Christian Science Monitor, April 11, 2013.
Opinion: "Payments to Elders are Harming our Future," Harry J. Holzer (with Isabel Sawhill), Washington Post, March 28, 2013.
Opinion: "Can the U.S. Produce Good Jobs and the Workers to Fill Them?," Harry J. Holzer, Huffington Post, June 21, 2012.
Regular contributions, typically as a commenter on employment issues, by Harry J. Holzer to C-SPAN.

Publications

"Jobs for the Working Class: Raising Earnings among Non-College Graduates," Brookings Institution, April 23, 2018.

Lays out a policy agenda for raising employment and earnings among U.S. non-college graduates.

"Getting Men Back to Work: Solutions from the Right and Left," (with Brent Orrell and Robert Doar), American Enterprise Institute, April 20, 2017.
"Building a New Middle Class in the Knowledge Economy," Progressive Policy Institute, April 12, 2017.
"Will Robots Make Job Training (and Workers) Obsolete?," Brookings Institution, June 19, 2017.
"Making College Work: Pathways to Success for Disadvantaged Students" (with Sandy Baum) (Brookings Press, 2017).

Offers practical solutions for improving higher education opportunities for disadvantaged students.