Sylvia is a senior economist at CEPR. Previously, she was the cochair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley. Before that, Sylvia worked for several years at the Economic Policy Institute after receiving her PhD in economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has been published in top-tier academic journals and has written extensively on topics that include minimum and subminimum wages, low-wage labor markets, inequality, teacher pay, public sector employment, and unions. Sylvia tracks unemployment, jobs, wages, and other economic trends with an eye toward how typical workers and families are faring. Her recent research concerns the growth in metropolitan statistical area– (MSA)-level hospital consolidation and how it has affected the growth in nursing wages. Preliminary results show that less competition in hospital markets has suppressed the growth of nursing wages.

Sylvia has appeared on national television and radio network news programs and is widely cited and published commentaries in major print publications, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.