Till von Wachter is Professor of Economics at the University of California Los Angeles, Faculty Director of the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site, Director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center, and Associate Dean for Research for the Social Science Division. Prof. von Wachter’s research examines how labor market conditions and institutions affect the well-being of workers and their families. This includes the analysis of unemployment and job loss on workers’ long-term earnings and health outcomes, as well as the role of unemployment insurance and disability insurance in buffering such shocks.

Current research projects focus on the role of the Unemployment Insurance program before and during the Pandemic, the effects of minimum wages, as well as several projects on homelessness using administrative data from Los Angeles. Professor von Wachter’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Aging, the Social Security Administration, the Sloan Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Hilton Foundation, and Arnold Ventures.

Prof. von Wachter has been an expert witness in numerous testimonies before committees of U.S. Congress, and has provided expert assistance to the City and County of Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Canadian Labor Ministry, the OECD, the United Nations, and the IMF.

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