Robert Lerman

Robert Irving Lerman (born January 24, 1944) is an American economist whose research has focused on apprenticeship training, income inequality, and family structure. He was Emeritus Professor of Economics at American University and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA). Lerman formerly served as a Research Fellow at the Urban Institute, where he helped establish and lead its apprenticeship research program. He is noted for his role in advancing apprenticeship programs in the United States, including co-authoring the influential 1990 study The Compelling Case for Youth Apprenticeship, which helped shape the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 and informed subsequent federal initiatives under the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. He is also recognized for pioneering quantitative studies of young unwed fathers, and has testified before the United States Congress on issues of youth employment, child support, and family policy. Winner of the 2024 McGraw prize for his accomplishments.

Biography

Robert I. Lerman was born in South Bend, Indiana, into a Jewish family headed by Nathan and Frances Lerman on January 24, 1944. He has taught economics at several universities, including Brandeis University and American University. In the 1970s, Lerman served as staff economist for the Congressional Joint Economic Committee as well as the US Department of Labor. From 1974 to 1976, Lerman was a visiting scholar at the Brookdale Institute in Jerusalem, authoring articles on income and wealth inequality and a critical overview of Israeli housing policy. In the 1980s, his research while at Brandeis University dealt with youth employment patterns and programs, welfare reform proposals, and unwed and non-custodial fatherhood. His collaborations with Professor Shlomo Yitzhaki6 led to new ways to examine income inequality by income source and by population subgroup.7

Since 1989, Lerman has served as Professor of Economics (now emeritus) at American University and in 1995 also conducted research at Urban Institute. Lerman has conducted many research and evaluation projects, including serving as Principal Investigator of the Evaluation of the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative and several research and action projects on apprenticeship.8 In 2012, he created the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship as an information clearinghouse on apprenticeship. With Maryland State Senator James Rosapepe and Achieve Partners Managing Director Ryan Craig, Lerman co-founded in 2021 the nonprofit, Apprenticeships for America, to help scale US apprenticeships. He also built and led the apprenticeship group at Urban Institute. In 2024, Lerman won the coveted McGraw Prize in Education for his contributions to lifelong learning.

Lerman and his wife have two daughters, Alona and Maya, son-in-laws Gilli Stern and Todd Harvey, and grandson Asher Stern and granddaughter Golda Lerman.

Awards

First Prize, National Essay Contest for An Implementation Strategy for Reforming the Nation's Welfare Programs, Sponsored by the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies: November 1985
American University Award for Outstanding Contributions to Academic Development: May 1994
Co-recipient of Howard Rosen Award for Best Article in the 1997 Monthly Labor Review by an author outside the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Selected Books, Monographs

What Works in Youth Employment Policy? How to Help Young Workers from Poor Families, (with Andrew Hahn) National Planning Association, Washington, 1985.
(with Stephanie R. Cellini). Demography, Education and the Work Force. Greenwood Press. 2009.

Selected Book Chapters

“Do Welfare Programs Affect the Schooling and Work Patterns of Young Black Men?” in The Black Youth Employment Crisis, Richard Freeman and Harry Holzer (eds.), University of Chicago Press, 1986.
“How Do Income Sources Affect Income Inequality?” in Income Inequality Measurement: From Theory to Practice. edited by Jacques Silber. Kluwer Academic Publishing, 1999.
(with Elaine Sorensen) “Child Support: Interactions Between Private and Public Transfers.” in Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the U.S., edited by Robert Moffitt. National Bureau of Economic Research. University of Chicago Press. 2003.
“Are skills the problem? Reforming the Education and Training System in the United States” in A Future of Good Jobs. Upjohn Institute. 2008. 17-80.
“Economic Perspectives on Marriage: Causes, Consequences, and Public Policy,” in Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law, edited by Lloyd Cohen and Joshua Wright, Edward Elgar, 2011.
“Skill Development in Middle Level Occupations: The Role of Apprenticeship Training.” In Oxford University Press Handbook on Skills and Training, edited by John Buchanan and David Finegold.

Selected Journal Articles

“Options in Income Support for the Aged: A Critique of the Two-Tier Approach,” (with Jack Habib), Journal of Public Economics, April 1979.
“Employment Opportunities of Young Men and Family Formation,” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings. May 1989.
“Child Support Policies,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1993.
“The Impact of Changing US Family Structure on Child Poverty and Income Inequality,” Economica, v. 63, no. 250 (S), 1996. S119-S139. Reprinted in the International Library of Critical Writings in Economics: Income Distribution: II, edited by Michael Sattinger. Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham, UK. 2001. 104-124.
“US Wage Inequality Trends and Recent Immigration,” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings. May 1999. 23-28.
(with Avner Ahituv). “How Do Marital Status, Work Effort, and Wage Rates Interact?” Demography. August 2007, 623-647.

References

1. https://www.urban.org/author/robert-i-lerman/publications 2. https://innovativeapprenticeship.org 3. Robert I. Lerman and Hillard Pouncy. “The compelling case for youth apprenticeship.” The Public Interest. Spring 1990. 4. Text of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/103/hr2884/text 5. Young Unwed Fathers: Changing Roles and Emerging Policies, co editor with Theodora Ooms, Temple University Press, July 1993. 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Yitzhaki_(economist) 7. See, for example, “Income Inequality Effects by Income Source: A New Approach and Applications to the U.S.,” Review of Economics and Statistics, February 1985; and ““Income Inequality and Income Stratification,” Review of Income and Wealth, September 1991. 8. https://www.urban.org/features/apprenticeships

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