Keith Hall

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Distinguished Visiting Fellow
Keith Hall is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Previously, Hall served as the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
From 2015-2019, Hall served as Director of the CBO. Prior to returning to Mercatus, Hall was a professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. He has more than 25 years of public service, serving as the Chief Economist and Director of Economics at the
International Trade Commission (ITC), Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chief Economist for the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, Chief Economist for the Department of Commerce, and a senior international economist for the ITC. He also previously worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Mercatus. He has been a full-time faculty member in the economics departments at the Universities of Arkansas and Missouri.
He concurrently serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Member of the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee, and as a Member of the Brookings Institution Carbon Scoring Taskforce Advisory Council.
Hall received his BA from the University of Virginia and his MS and PhD in economics from Purdue University. Hall’s research interests include labor markets, labor market policy, and economic data.
Latest Work
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Labor Market Still Struggling Despite Positive November Gains
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Data Visualizations Data Visualizations
Government-Financed Employment and the Real Private Sector in the 50 States
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Data Visualizations Data Visualizations
GDP Growth and Payroll Changes During the 1996 Government Shutdown
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
When Businesses Are Hiring for the Wrong Reasons
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Gov't Shutdown Unlikely to Have Long-Term Economic Effect
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Weak Numbers in Delayed Jobs Report, Uncertainty for Next Month
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
BLS Should Not Allow Government Shutdown to Delay Jobs Report
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Tale of Two Labor Markets in Virginia
Latest Work
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Labor Market Still Struggling Despite Positive November Gains
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Data Visualizations Data Visualizations
Government-Financed Employment and the Real Private Sector in the 50 States
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Data Visualizations Data Visualizations
GDP Growth and Payroll Changes During the 1996 Government Shutdown
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
When Businesses Are Hiring for the Wrong Reasons
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Gov't Shutdown Unlikely to Have Long-Term Economic Effect
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Weak Numbers in Delayed Jobs Report, Uncertainty for Next Month
- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
BLS Should Not Allow Government Shutdown to Delay Jobs Report
- | Housing Housing
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Tale of Two Labor Markets in Virginia
Latest Work
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Confidence in Labor Market Continues to Fall
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
The Mercatus Summer Reading List

- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Economic Growth is the Best Labor Market Policy
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary
Latest Jobs Report Shows U.S. Economy Is Barely Treading Water

- | Government Spending Government Spending
- | Expert Commentary Expert Commentary