Enrique Lopezlira

Enrique Lopezlira is director of the low-wage work program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center. He is a labor economist, directing and conducting research on how policies affect working families, with a particular focus on how these policies impact racial and gender equity. He previously served as senior policy advisor for economic and employment policy at UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), one of the largest Latinx civil rights organizations in the nation. He also served as deputy director for policy and research at Western Progress, a think tank advancing progressive policies and change in the eight states of the Rocky Mountain West. He brings experience in advising various government agencies and testifying at the state and federal levels. He is often asked for his economic insights and analysis by English and Spanish media; he has appeared on CNN, CNN en Español, and Univision, and has been covered in Al Jazeera, Politico, and The Washington Post. He serves on the PPIC Economic Policy Center Advisory Council. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Arizona State University, a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a doctorate in economics from Howard University.