Ariella Spitzer

Ariella Spitzer is passionate about building evidence to help promote programs and policies that reduce labor market inequality and improve public well-being. Currently, her research focuses on designing and conducting studies of employment programs and policies designed for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.

Spitzer currently serves as co-project director and co-principal investigator for the America’s Promise Impact Evaluation of 22 job-driven grants, which seeks to estimate the impact of participation in grant-funded job training programs. She also oversees the impact evaluation team for an evaluation of pre- and post-release job-driven employment services funded by Pathway Home grants for justice-involved individuals. Spitzer also works on a large, randomized evaluation of the use of enhanced training for career navigators in adult education. Across her work, she believes that participatory research methods strengthen quantitative and qualitative research by incorporating the expertise of people with lived experience.

Spitzer holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. Her dissertation estimated disparities in labor market outcomes by race, adjusting for survey nonresponse. Her research has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Journal of Nutrition, and the Future of Children. Before pursuing her doctoral degree, Spitzer worked as a senior analyst at the Analysis Group.