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Michelle Holder
Senior Labor Market Analyst
Department of Policy and Advocacy
212.614.5472
mholder@cssny.org
Michelle Holder is a Labor Market Analyst at CSS where she analyzes and writes about labor market and poverty trends in New York City. Michelle’s research also covers the issue of incarceration in communities of color as well as the impact of imprisonment on subsequent labor market outcomes.
WHY THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT TO ME:
In order to effectively address poverty in New York City we need to understand the landscape and context that we are dealing with—what’s happening in the labor force, what are the trends in poverty and inequality, where are the jobs, what’s happening to wages, and what are the factors that put people at risk for involvement in the criminal justice system.
MENTORS/IMPORTANT FIGURES IN LIFE/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
My mom and older brother who instilled the most important values in me; Dr. Janis Barry who showed me women can be economists too; Miles Rapoport who showed me what makes a great leader.
PRIOR EMPLOYMENT:
Research Associate at the New School Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis; Finance Director at Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action; Economist/Financial Analyst at Office of the State Deputy Comptroller for New York City
PROFESSIONAL HONORS:
New School for Social Research Dissertation Fellowship 2010-2011
NYU Wagner School Black Student Alliance Public Service Award 2010
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS/COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:
National Economics Association
Union of Radical Political Economists
PUBLISHED WORKS:
“Unemployment in NYC During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest” Community Service Society, December 2010
“Infrastructure for America’s Economy: Evaluating the Evidence” New School Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis publication The Promise of Public Investment, 2008. Co-authored with Teresa Ghilarducci, Jeff Madrick, Nikolaus Papanikolaou and Jonathan Schlefer
“Katrina: Scenes Reminiscent of Dogs Biting and Fire Hoses on Full Blast” Dēmos: A Network for Ideas and Action Democracy Dispatch #61, September 28, 2005
BOOKS I WOULD RECOMMEND:
Anything by Toni Morrison; Kindred by Octavia Butler; The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran; Karl Marx’s “Capital” Volumes I & II
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. candidate in economics at the New School for Social Research; M.A. in economics from the New School for Social Research; M.P.A. from the University of Michigan; B.A. in economics from Fordham University
PLACE OF BIRTH:
Brooklyn, N.Y.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME:
I’m a second generation immigrant—my mom is from Central America.
Testimony Before the Community Development Committee of the New York City Council