James Parrott
is Director of Economic and Fiscal Policies at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School. Parrott’s recent research projects include analyses of the of the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis in New York City, and of the magnitude of gig and other low-paid independent contract work in New York State. He has studied the effect of New York’s $15 minimum wage and pay inequities in the nonprofit New York City contract workforce.
Parrott co-authored, along with Michael Reich of the University of California, Berkeley, the analysis that led to New York City’s first-in- the-nation minimum pay standard for app-dispatched drivers. In July 2020, Parrott and Reich released a similar study commissioned the City of Seattle. Parrott has several years of experience studying the New York City and State economies and labor markets, and analyzing labor, city and state budget and tax policies.
He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and in previous positions has worked for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the City of New York’s economic development strategy office, the Office of the State Comptroller for New York City, and the Fiscal Policy Institute. He has taught at Hunter College, The New School, and CUNY’s Murphy Institute.
