Katharine G. Abraham is Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland.

Her published research includes papers on the contingent work force; how government policies affect employers’ choices concerning the adjustment of labor input over the business cycle; the work and retirement decisions of older Americans; the effects of student financial aid; and the measurement of economic activity. She served as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1993 through 2001 and as a Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2011 through 2013.

She is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists. Abraham received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and her B.S. in economics from Iowa State University.

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in April 2016 and serves as Program Director of the IZA research area "Labor Statistics".