In the field of labor economists, Northampton native Michael W. Horrigan is a well-known star who one colleague describes as one of the premier labor economists in the country.
The St. Michael’s School graduate has spent more than three decades at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, starting as a labor economist in 1986 and working his way up to associate commissioner of the Washington, D.C.-based federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
Now, after 32 years, Horrigan is moving on to a new role — and moving to the upper Midwest from Washington, D.C., where he is also a professor at Georgetown University — as the next president of W.E. Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“When I read it I realized that the job they were describing for the president position was pretty much my job,” Horrigan said.
The institute is a nonprofit founded during the Great Depression to help citizens find work in tough times. The nonprofit researches the causes and consequences of unemployment, and guides people in their vocational path.
Horrigan grew up in Northampton, the youngest of five children. He attended St. Michael’s, where most of his family graduated, including his grandfather.
“I had a great education. It was a small school. I graduated with about only 55 kids,” Horrigan said. “It was all around a good training ground and a good learning environment.”
Horrigan enjoyed growing up in a small town and values his education and experiences back home. “Every school had its niche. Mine was math. We had a really good math program.”
As a youth, Horrigan worked as a swim coach and a lifeguard. “It introduced me to the world of teaching.”
Horrigan rose through the ranks at the Bureau of Labor Statistics as a division chief, the director of the National Longitudinal Surveys Program and assistant commissioner in two offices. He served as associate commissioner for the Offices of Prices and Living Conditions before taking his current role of associate commissioner in the Office of Unemployment and Unemployment Statistics in 2014.
In his role as associate commissioner, Horrigan leds programs to produce and distribute key national employment indicators. This work will serve him well in his new job at Upjohn, says Randall W. Eberts, the institute’s outgoing president.
Horrigan says he will miss being a professor — early in his career he taught economics at Williams College — but he is excited to take on this new position.
“I think I will learn a lot of new things about the world of workforce development and how we help people find employment,” Horrigan says of his new role.
In addition to providing vision and strategic direction, Horrigan also plans to continue his own research, potentially collaborating with Institute researchers on topics such as workforce development, automation and labor force participation.
He begins March 4.