Jo Swaffield is a Professor of Economics and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Jo has studied at the University of Bristol, the University of York and the University of Warwick. Her main areas of research interest are labour economics and applied microeconometrics, focusing on issues in the UK labour market such as the gender wage gap, in-work poverty and low wages (including minimum wages and the Living Wage).

Jo's research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Low Pay Commission (LPC). She is Chair of the Royal Economic Society's 'Women Committee', Trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and a member of the Home Office's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2012.