The Urban Institute's long tradition of quality, nonpartisan policy research attracted me to join this mission. It offers a valuable venue to enrich my research, increase its policy relevance, and work with thoughtful colleagues.
Robert I. Lerman is a nonresident Institute fellow at the Urban Institute, chairman of Apprenticeships for America, emeritus professor of economics at American University, and a research fellow at IZA in Bonn, Germany. His government positions included staff economist for the Joint Economic Committee and the US Department of Labor. From 1995 to 2003, Lerman was director of Urban’s Center for Labor and Social Policy. He was one of the first scholars to examine the economic determinants of unwed fatherhood and to propose a youth apprenticeship strategy in the US. His published research covers apprenticeship, family structure, inequality, income support, and youth employment and development. Lerman is a leading academic expert on US apprenticeship, with publications dating back to the 1990 journal article “The Compelling Case for Youth Apprenticeship” in the Public Interest. He was principal investigator of the evaluation of the American Apprenticeship Initiative and of the Youth Apprenticeship Intermediary Project. Lerman has testified before several congressional committees and served on the National Academy of Sciences panel on the US postsecondary education and training system. In 2022, he cofounded Apprenticeships for America to bring together apprenticeship intermediaries and to advocate for expanding apprenticeships in the US. Lerman is a recipient of the 2024 Harold W. McGraw Prize in education for his work on apprenticeship. He earned an AB from Brandeis University and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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