Laura Sanchez Puerta is the Human Development Lead Economist and Program Leader for the Andean countries. Previously, she was the Program Leader for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti and also worked for more than ten years in de Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, where she specialized on the intersection of labor and development economics.
Maria Laura has extensive research and operational experience in a range of topics – multi-sectoral jobs diagnostics and strategies, productive inclusion policies, skills development plans, and active labor market programs. She has led global research on jobs in value chains, cognitive and socio-emotional skills and labor outcomes, workforce development, income mobility in Latin America, informality and labor market segmentation, and the effects of globalization on working conditions. An Argentinian national, Maria Laura obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Cornell University and has been an IZA Research Fellow since 2007.