Labor Economist Kate Bahn to lead Equitable Growth labor and wage initiatives

For immediate release

Washington, D.C. — The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced that labor economist Kate Bahn has joined its staff to lead the organization’s efforts on labor and wage issues.

Bahn will continue to develop the network of researchers whose work on labor and wage issues Equitable Growth supports. In addition, she will coordinate efforts to connect their work to policymakers at the national and state levels.

Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth.

“Kate is a very important addition to the Equitable Growth team,” said Executive Director and Chief Economist Heather Boushey. “She is a well-respected labor economist and a leader in her field whose work has had a significant impact in Washington and around the country.

“The lack of wage growth in the economy strongly suggests that the labor market is not as tight as the data would suggest. We need research on the reasons for sluggish wage growth, and we need policies that can boost wage growth for low- and middle-income workers. Kate will play a big role in shaping Equitable Growth’s efforts to find solutions.”

Bahn’s own areas of research include gender, race, and ethnicity in the labor market, care work, and monopsonistic labor markets. Previously, she was an economist at the Center for American Progress. Bahn also serves as the executive vice president and secretary for the International Association for Feminist Economics. She has published popular economics writing for a variety of publications, including The Guardian, The Nation, Salon, and Newsweek.

Bahn received her doctorate in economics from the New School for Social Research and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College.

“I’m very excited to be joining in Equitable Growth’s mission to address the underlying causes of persistent economic inequality,” Bahn said. “Inequality has held workers back from fulfilling opportunity and achieving their full potential. Understanding structural factors that have led to wage stagnation, stubborn wage gaps, and a lack of broadly shared growth is the first step in developing policy solutions to address these trends.”