William E. Spriggs

William E. Spriggs was an African American economist whose career linked university teaching, public service and organized labor, including work as Howard University economics professor and department chair and as chief economist of the AFL-CIO.

A native of Washington, D.C., he was a graduate of Williams College who earned his economics doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Spriggs also taught at Norfolk State University and North Carolina A&T State University. From 1988 to 2004, he was executive director of the National Urban League's Institute for Opportunity and Equality, where his research and policy experience took shape. During the Clinton administration, he was part of the team that raised the federal minimum wage from $4.75 to $5.15 an hour. Howard University's memorial called him an internationally renowned economist.

From 2009 to 2012, he served as assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate. His professional service also included the presidency of the National Economic Association and membership on the National Bureau of Economic Research board.

His research confronted a persistent fact of the American labor market: the higher unemployment rate Black workers face across the business cycle. He wrote and testified on the minimum wage, trade, education and Social Security, and the New York Times described him at his death as one of the most prominent Black economists of his generation.

Spriggs died on June 6, 2023, at a hospital in Reston, Virginia. He was 68. Vice President Kamala Harris called him a giant in the field of economics, and the AFL-CIO's memorial recalled his work as its chief economist and his earlier federal service. The Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management later created the William Spriggs Memorial Award in his honor, carrying his name into the work of training the next generation of policy scholars.