Kathleen Utgoff

Kathleen Utgoff is an American economist. She was Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2002 to 2006.^[1]

Kathleen Utgoff
Commissioner of Labor Statistics Bureau of Labor Statistics
In office July 2002 – July 2006
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Katharine Abraham
Succeeded by	Keith Hall
Personal details
Alma mater	California State University, Northridge (BA) UCLA (PhD)

Education

Utgoff holds a BA degree in economics from California State University, Northridge, and a PhD in economics from UCLA (1978).^[1]

Career

Utgoff began her career at the Center for Naval Analyses and served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan administration. President Reagan appointed her as executive director of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation in 1985.^[2]

During her time as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS increased the number of data series published and expanded internet-based data collection.^[1] Utgoff is also credited with establishing an "unofficial motto" for BLS: "When asked whether the glass is half full or half empty, the bureau’s response is, It’s an eight-ounce glass with four ounces of liquid."^[3]

Selected works

• Utgoff, Kathleen Classen. "Compensation levels and quit rates in the public sector." Journal of Human Resources (1983): 394–406.
• Utgoff, Kathleen P., and Zvi Bodie. "The PBGC: A costly lesson in the economics of federal insurance." In Government Risk-Bearing, pp. 145–166. Springer, Dordrecht, 1993.
• Utgoff, Kathleen P. "Pension Reform Strengthens Defined-Benefit Plans." Compensation and Benefits Management 4 (1988): 273–5.