Ben Gitis

Labor Market Expert

Ben Gitis is the former Director of Labor Market Policy at the American Action Forum.

Biography

Ben Gitis is the former Director of Labor Market Policy at the American Action Forum. He has extensively researched and written about paid family leave, the opioid crisis, the minimum wage, immigration enforcement, labor force participation, the gig economy, and the social safety net. Ben’s studies are regularly referenced by major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, and CNBC, among others. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, Fox News Radio, NPR’s Planet Money podcast, and local television and radio news programs across the country. Ben has also written opinion pieces for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, and The Hill.

From 2016 to 2018, Ben was a member of the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Institution working group on paid family leave, where he developed a model for estimating the cost of paid leave proposals. Currently, he assists the Markle Foundation’s Rework America Task Force. Ben also frequently advises members of Congress and their staff on topics related to the labor market, including the opioid crisis and paid family leave. In September 2018, Ben testified before the House Small Business Committee on the labor market effects of the opioid crisis.

Previously, Ben was a policy analyst at the American Action Forum, providing research assistance to President Douglas Holtz-Eakin and policy directors, and conducting his own original research on the minimum wage, regulatory cost burdens, wage subsidies, and the labor market consequences of the Affordable Care Act. He received a B.A. from Davidson College, where he graduated magna cum laude with Honors in Economics and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He also spent a year studying economics in Hertford College, University of Oxford.


Education

BA
Davidson College


Education

BA
Davidson College