Robert Lerman

Robert Lerman is a professor in the department of economics at American University. He conducts research and publishes on employment, income support, and youth development, especially as they affect low-income populations. In the 1970s, he worked on reforming the nation’s income maintenance programs and on youth employment policies as a staff economist for both the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the U.S. Department of Labor. He was one of the first scholars to examine the patterns and economic determinants of unwed fatherhood and to propose a youth apprenticeship strategy in the United States. He is currently an institute fellow at the Urban Institute and a research associate at IZA in Bonn, Germany. Lerman is the founder and president of the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship.