Eliana Carranza is the Global Lead for Labor and Skills in the Social Protection and Labor (SPL) Global Practice at the World Bank. A recognized thought leader in the field, she advises governments and World Bank teams across regions on employment strategies, labor market systems, and skills development. She leads high-level policy dialogue, analytical programs, and the design of investment operations.

Eliana plays a key role in anchoring strategic collaborations with a broad network of partners—including academia, the private sector, NGOs, and international organizations—to advance cutting-edge analytics, pilot programs, and financing mechanisms for employment and skills development at scale. Since joining the World Bank as a Young Professional in 2011, she has worked across South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Her research on labor markets, skills, and gender has been published in leading academic journals, including Econometrica, the American Economic Review, AEJ: Applied Economics, and the Review of Economics and Statistics. She is also a non-resident Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn. From 2019 to 2022, Eliana served as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School. She holds an MPA in International Development and a PhD in Political Economy and Government (Economics) from Harvard University.