Senior Economist; Codirector, Middle-Class Pathways Center; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy; Associate Research Department Director, Economics, Sociology and Statistics (ESS)
Melanie Zaber is a senior economist and codirector of the Middle-Class Pathways Center, as well as a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. She also serves as one of the associate research department directors for Economics, Sociology, and Statistics. She is trained as a labor economist and postsecondary education researcher, and has combined those domains at RAND into research on civilian and military workforces. Most of her work has focused on the strength and demographic composition of STEM workforces, ranging from sub-baccalaureate all the way to Ph.D. More recently, this has included the workforce implications of AI. Her broader applied microeconomic research agenda has examined household transitions (coresidence, marriage, divorce, bankruptcy), analyzed workforce pipelines (principals, military linguists, building tradespeople), explored postsecondary finance (market power, state grant aid, income share agreements), and estimated the return to various credentials (certificates, licenses, certifications). Zaber received her Ph.D. in economics and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
Ph.D. in economics and public policy, Carnegie Mellon University; B.S. in economics, policy studies, Syracuse University
