Sara Hinkley is a specialist in the low-wage work program at the Labor Center, where she focuses on technology and the public sector. She is also the former Associate Director of IRLE.
Her research focuses on the dynamics of state and local public finance, the evolution of economic development policies, and growing economic and social inequality in cities. She has written about the impact of the Great Recession on U.S. city budgets and services, the growing complexity of municipal finance, the relationship between fiscal policy and widening inequality, the gendered dynamics of austerity, and the political discourse of long-term unemployment after the recession. Sara has worked on research projects at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the Center for Community Innovation at UC Berkeley.
Before getting her PhD, Sara was a longtime researcher in the fields of labor, workforce, and economic development policy in California and nationally. She has worked for the California Labor Federation, Justice for Janitors, and Good Jobs First developing expertise in policies to improve opportunities for low-income people. She was previously a postdoctoral scholar at the Labor Center.
Sara is also a lecturer in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, where she teaches courses in Economic Analysis and Community and Economic Development.
Sara received a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from UC Berkeley, a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a B.A. from Amherst College.
Areas of Expertise: municipal finance, economic development, unions, fiscal policy, low-wage work, urban inequality
Learn more about Sara Hinkley on her personal website.
