Sari Pekkala Kerr
Senior Research Scientist
- Ph.D., University of Jyväskylä
- skerr3@wellesley[dot]edu \ Google Scholar \ Ideas.Repec
- CV
Economist with research focus on labor markets, education, and families
Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., is an economist and a senior research scientist who leads the Women in the Workplace research at the Wellesley Centers for Women. Her studies and teaching focus on the economics of labor markets, education, and families, including the gender wage gap, the mommy track, family leave and minimum wage policies, and entrepreneurship.
Pekkala Kerr is working on two studies that examine the impacts of state minimum wages. One is a two-year investigation of the long-term impacts on job-level inequality measures for young workers from low-income families. The second is a two-year examination of the immediate and long-term impacts of state minimum wage increases on the job quality of low-wage workers. Both projects will help us better understand how minimum wage policies potentially impact low-wage workers, particularly young workers, in the long run. These studies will complement a recent research project that investigated the impact of state minimum wage policies on firms.
Pekkala Kerr and Senior Research Scientist Georgia Hall, Ph.D., recently completed an inaugural report on the Status of Women & Girls in Massachusetts, in partnership with the Women’s Foundation of Massachusetts. This comprehensive report is the first of its kind and fills a critical information gap on the wellbeing of women and girls in Massachusetts, with a particular focus on economic empowerment.
Pekkala’s research also focuses on entrepreneurship, particularly as it relates to immigrants and women. She has investigated Entrepreneurship as a Career Choice for Women and Entrepreneurship and Social Mobility of Women, as well as Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Job Creation.
Before joining WCW in 2010, Pekkala Kerr previously worked at the Government Institute for Economic Research in Helsinki. She also served as an adjunct professor or visiting scholar to the economics departments of MIT, Boston University, and the University of Kent at Canterbury. Additionally, Pekkala Kerr has extensive private sector experience as an economic consultant for Charles River Associates and Keystone Strategy. She also teaches a gender economics class in the economics department at Wellesley College.
Kerr received a University Diploma in Economics from the University of Kent at Canterbury in England, and her M.A. in Economics, Business Studies, Education and Linguistics and her Ph.D. from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.
