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Harry J. Holzer

McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, USA, and IZA, Germany

IZA World of Labor role

Author, Topic spokesperson

Current position

Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Research interest

Disadvantaged workers and their employers, education and the workforce, labor market policy

Website

http://bit.ly/Holzer_Georgetown

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Chief Economist, US Department of Labor, 1999

Past positions

Professor, Department of Economics, Michigan State University, 1992–2000

Qualifications

PhD Economics, Harvard University, 1983

Selected publications

  • “Is it worth it? Postsecondary education and employment outcomes for the disadvantaged.” IZA Journal of Labor Policy 4:1 (2015).

  • “Good workers for good jobs: Improving education and workforce systems in the U.S.” IZA Journal of Labor Policy 1:1 (2012).

  • “Improving education and employment among disadvantaged young men: Proven and promising strategies.” Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Science 635:1 (2011): 163–191 (with C. Heinrich).

  • “The labor market and young black men: Updating Moynihan’s perspective.” Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Science 621:1 (2009): 47–69.

  • “The economic costs of poverty in the U.S.: Subsequent effects of children growing up poor.” Journal of Children and Poverty 14:1 (2008): 41–61 (with G. Duncan, D. W. Schanzenbach, and J. Ludwig).

article(s)

  • Should the earned income tax credit rise for childless adults? Updated

    The earned income tax credit boosts income and work effort among low-income parents, especially single mothers, and has contributed to the steep rise in employment among single mothers in the 1990s.

    Harry J. Holzer, September 2023
    The earned income tax credit provides important benefits to low-income families with children. At substantial costs (over $70 billion to the US federal government), it increases the incomes of such families while encouraging parents to work more by subsidizing their incomes. But low-income adults without children and non-custodial parents receive very low payments under the program in most years. Many of these adults are less-educated men, whose labor force participation rates and relative wages have been declining for years. They might benefit significantly from a more generous earned income tax credit for childless adults.
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