Maria Laura Sanchez Puerta is a Lead Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Bank’s Social Policy Practice. She has over 20 years of experience translating rigorous economic research into policy and large-scale operations across Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. She has served as Human Development Program Leader for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, based in Lima, and previously as Program Leader for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, based in Cairo. Across these roles, she has led complex policy engagements and operations, worked closely with senior government officials and development partners, and managed multi-sectoral human development portfolios in diverse and challenging country contexts.

Her expertise spans labor markets, skills development, social protection, jobs, productive inclusion, and human capital. Her work includes jobs diagnostics and strategies, youth employment and active labor market programs, skills development, livelihoods, women’s economic opportunities, informality and labor market segmentation, as well as research on skills and labor outcomes, jobs in value chains, and income mobility in Latin America. She brings a distinctive ability to connect rigorous analysis with country-level policy dialogue and translate evidence into practical solutions and scalable investments that expand economic opportunity and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations. A Fulbright Scholar and Cornell-trained PhD economist, she has been an IZA Research Fellow since 2007.