Commissioners

Erica L. Groshen

January 2013–January 2017

Appointed by: Barack Obama

Dr. Erica L. Groshen earned a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. She was a visiting assistant professor of economics at Barnard College at Columbia University and an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Dr. Groshen joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 1994 and held the position of Vice President in the Research and Statistics Group. She was a visiting economist at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, in 1999–2000. She also served on advisory boards for BLS and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Her economics research has focused on labor markets over the business cycle, regional economics, wage rigidity and dispersion, the male-female wage differential, and the role of employers in labor market outcomes.

Dr. Groshen became the 14th Commissioner of Labor Statistics on January 29, 2013. She was nominated by President Barack Obama in February 2012 and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in January 2013.

One of Dr. Groshen’s priorities when she first came to BLS was to have the Bureau join the Federal Statistical Research Data Center network, which occurred in 2016. Also in 2016, BLS published the first-ever Occupational Requirements Survey estimates, which are collected under an agreement with the Social Security Administration so that agency can make better-informed decisions about disability programs. Under Dr. Groshen's leadership, BLS received funding for the May 2017 Current Population Survey Contingent Worker and Alternative Work Arrangements supplement, which replicates a survey last done in 2005.

Throughout Dr. Groshen's tenure, BLS continued to innovate processes through just-in-time data releases, using web-scrapping and auto-coding methods, offering videos to customers, and more.

She personally reached out to BLS stakeholders by participating in at least 350 events with customers during her 4 years as a host, speaker, and panelist.

With great joy and pride, Dr. Groshen spearheaded the DOL Hall of Honor inductions of Commissioners Carroll Wright, the first BLS Commissioner, and Janet Norwood, the first woman Commissioner, in October 2015.

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Last Modified Date: July 26, 2018