Marcela Escobari
Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Center for Sustainable Development
Marcela Escobari is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, housed in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings, where she is leading the Workforce of the Future initiative. She was assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean in President Obama’s administration. Escobari was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and led the bureau and its initiatives on poverty, inequality, citizen security, and governance. Throughout the region, USAID has 13 bilateral missions, three regional missions, and U.S.-based programs focusing on democracy, humanitarian assistance, and the environment. The bureau manages an annual budget of approximately $1 billion.
Since 2007, Escobari served as executive director at the Center for International Development at Harvard University, a research center working to generate breakthrough ideas that bring stable, shared, and sustainable prosperity to developing countries. During her tenure, the Center achieved tremendous impact, tripling in size with projects in 17 countries across five continents.
She has also worked as head of the Americas region at the OTF Group (a spin-off of Monitor Group), where she advised governments on how to increase export competitiveness and harness the private sector to eradicate poverty. She began her career as a Mergers & Acquisitions banker at JP Morgan in New York. The World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader in 2013. She co-authored the book “In the River They Swim: Essays from around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty,” holds a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Marcela Escobari is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development, housed in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings, where she is leading the Workforce of the Future initiative. She was assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean in President Obama’s administration. Escobari was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and led the bureau and its initiatives on poverty, inequality, citizen security, and governance. Throughout the region, USAID has 13 bilateral missions, three regional missions, and U.S.-based programs focusing on democracy, humanitarian assistance, and the environment. The bureau manages an annual budget of approximately $1 billion.
Since 2007, Escobari served as executive director at the Center for International Development at Harvard University, a research center working to generate breakthrough ideas that bring stable, shared, and sustainable prosperity to developing countries. During her tenure, the Center achieved tremendous impact, tripling in size with projects in 17 countries across five continents.
She has also worked as head of the Americas region at the OTF Group (a spin-off of Monitor Group), where she advised governments on how to increase export competitiveness and harness the private sector to eradicate poverty. She began her career as a Mergers & Acquisitions banker at JP Morgan in New York. The World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader in 2013. She co-authored the book “In the River They Swim: Essays from around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty,” holds a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
[The pandemic recovery may provide rare opportunities for those toiling for low wages.] This time, people searching for jobs may have a lot of different options. That is not typical.
A large-scale federal infrastructure investment program that is deliberately designed for maximum workforce impact can help accelerate reemployment, prevent scarring, and boost long-term inclusive and sustainable growth.
Many of today’s unemployed workers may find it harder than in the past to find new jobs and advance through the labor market.
Testimonies
When workers who earn wages in the low-wage quintile switch occupations, they have the highest likelihood of any wage group to remain in the same wage quintile and not see any wage mobility.
As for the future, while some jobs will be replaced by automation and robots, the main concern is displacement. Both the industries that are growing and the industries that are shrinking are low wage, and available work is going to be more low-wage work.