Katharine G. Abraham is Professor of Economics and Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland. Her published research includes papers on outsourcing and alternative work arrangements; the work and retirement decisions of older Americans; student financial aid and college attendance; cyclical fluctuations in the labor market; and the measurement of economic activity. She served as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1993 through 2001 and as a Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2011 through 2013.
Abraham was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Contingent Work and Alternative Work Arrangements. The Committee (which included Susan Houseman, Chair, and David Weil), published its report, Measuring Alternative Work Arrangements for Research and Policy, in 2020. She currently serves on standing academic advisory committees convened by the Congressional Budget Office, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association.