In the fields of economics and labor policy, few have made a greater impact than William E. Spriggs. A passionate advocate for the diversification of the economics profession, he tirelessly worked to create space for others marginalized by a system historically skewed against them. He recognized that progress could only be achieved by ensuring that the voices of all communities were heard and valued. Spriggs' voice rang out clear and unwavering in an field that often perpetuated biases and overlooked systemic discrimination.
Spriggs was born in Washington, DC in 1955. Both of his parents were educators. Spriggs' father was a Tuskegee airman and later a Physics professor at Norfolk State and Howard Universities. His mother was a schoolteacher. Spriggs earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Williams College in Massachusetts. He attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin where he earned a MA in 1979 and his PhD in economics in 1984. Spriggs taught Economics at North Carolina Agricultural and Techincal State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. He then moved to Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia. He later served as Chair and Professor in the Economics Department at Howard University from 2005-2009 and 2012 until his death.
In adddtion to numerous academic appointments, Spriggs held a number of prominient positions in the federal government including participation in the Joint Economic Committee, which he advised several members of Congress including Kwesi Mfume. During the administration of Bill Clinton, Spriggs served with the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration and the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Government Contracting and Minority Business Development.
One of Spriggs' most important positions in the public sphere was his work as Executive Director for the Institute for Opportunity and Equality of the National Urban League (1998-2004). Spriggs played a pivotal role in the publication of the Urban League's annual State of Black America Report, which includes the most comprehensivel discussions of Black economic life.
Spriggs left the Urban League to join the Obama administration in 2009. He served as the assistant secretary for the Office of Policy at the Department of Labor from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, he became the chief economist for the AFL-CIO, one of the nation's largest labor unions. He chaired the organization's Economic Policy Working Group for the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and serves on the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Throughout his career, Spriggs worked on a variety of issues including education, trade, Social Security, minimum wage, and, most important, racial disparities faced by Black Americans. He illuminated issues overlooked by economists that Black Americans such as the fact that Blacks have twice the rate of unemployment as white people and even white high school dropout's unemployment rate is lower than the Black unemployment rate.
William E. Spriggs life and career represents the importance of using social science to better the lives of African Americans. His economic forecasting provided a more complete picture of the structual challenges African Americans face. His work in academia and the public sphere reflects his commitment to challenging the false assumptions of economists regarding Black economic viability. It also squarely centers the need to confront systemic structual barriers and challenges in this area as well. Bill Spriggs leaves a powerful legacy in the field of economics and labor policy. He will be sorely missed.