Future of Labor Research Center Fellow
Liz Farmer is a fiscal policy expert and journalist, writing for a national audience about the many ways state and local governments spend our taxpayer money. Her areas of expertise include budgets, fiscal distress, tax policy and pensions. She also writes about other topics like family-friendly government policy and the role of women in politics. Liz has appeared as a guest on numerous radio and televisions programs such as NPR’s 1A and CSPAN’s Washington Journal, and is a regular speaker and moderator at policy conferences.
Liz is best known for her work at GOVERNING magazine, where her writing broke down complicated public money issues in ways that everyone can understand. She was the driving force behind the magazine’s educational series, Finance 101, and also created the punchy and popular weekly newsletter, The Week in Public Finance.
Liz has also been a staff writer for newspapers in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., covering local politics, business and economic development. She received her B.A. from the George Washington University where she studied American history, film and television production. In 2007, she completed her Master of Journalism degree at the University of Maryland.
Remote Work during COVID-19: What Can It Tell Us About the Future of Work?
September 19, 2022
An overview of the available data on remote work, patterns across demographic groups and regions, and potential policy implications. Continue Reading...
The Great Resignation’s Impact on Local Government
January 20, 2022
State and local governments are still 928,000 positions below where they were before the COVID-19 crisis hit and since this summer, progress hasn’t just stalled—employment is starting to reverse. Continue Reading...
Pandemic Exposes Vulnerability—and Size—of the Gig Workforce
April 29, 2021
The third part in this series on gig workers explores gig worker unemployment data, highlights the challenges states faced in providing pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA), and considers obstacles to expanded unemployment protections for these workers. Continue Reading...
A Victory in California Gives Gig Companies a New Model for Legislation
March 10, 2021
This analysis examines the effect of California’s Proposition 22 on benefits for gig workers and the policy issues at play in gig worker legislation across the country. Continue Reading...
COVID-19 and Working From Home Give Cities a Chance to Redefine Who Uses Downtowns
November 10, 2020
The work from home impact on real estate and big city tax revenue. Continue Reading...
COVID-19 Could Change the Future of Transit Funding
July 7, 2020
This analysis details the impact of COVID-19 on public transit ridership and funding. Continue Reading...
Legislating the Gig Worker Economy
June 25, 2020
This analysis examines Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), a California law that grants gig workers more labor protections, drawing lessons for policymakers pursuing labor protections for gig workers in other states. Continue Reading...
Broadband Expansion and Coronavirus
May 8, 2020
This analysis examines the role of government in expanding access to broadband. Continue Reading...
April 20, 2020
Liz Farmer discusses how work-from-home arrangements put in place as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to increase work-from-home trends and alter business operations. Continue Reading...
Coronavirus Likely to Lead to Permanent Growth in Work-From-Home Ranks
April 2, 2020
In this blog, we examine how the COVID-19 crisis may accelerate the trend of working from home. Continue Reading...
Where the Mobile Workforce is Living
January 16, 2020
Using American Community Survey data, we look at trends around those whose primary jobs have the work-from-home flexibility that many more Americans say they want. Continue Reading...
