Pronita Gupta named special assistant to President Biden for Labor and Workers

PTI, Feb 16, 2021, 8:19 AM IST

Washington DC: Indian-American Pronita Gupta has been named US President Joe Biden’s Special Assistant for Labor and Workers on the Domestic Policy Council, a media release has said.

Gupta, who was until recently the Director of Job Quality Team at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), brings a deep commitment and dedication to advocating policies that improve job quality for workers, strengthen worker protections, and increase economic security for working families with low incomes, the release said.

”She is an extraordinary leader who places people with low incomes and people of colour at the core of her work and powerfully combines passion and vision with deep, detailed, practical knowledge. I cannot think of anyone who could better serve President Biden and the nation in advancing this crucial agenda,” said Olivia Golden, executive director for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).

In her nearly four years as CLASP’s Director of the Job Quality team, Pronita was a leader nationally and in the states, advancing policies that improved the jobs of workers with low wages, playing an integral role in the Work-Family Strategy Council and partnering with colleagues around the country, Golden said.

”At CLASP, she assembled a tremendously effective team that played a crucial role in building state and national momentum for paid family and medical leave and paid sick days, taking on everything from the details of financing and implementing effective programs to the broad vision, through testimony, speeches, detailed technical assistance, and powerful research reports and commentaries,” Golden said.

During the second term of the Obama Administration, Gupta was Deputy Director, Women’s Bureau at the US Department of Labor from April 2014 to January 2017. In that role, she worked to advance and improve standards, practices, and opportunities for women in the labour force.

She has also previously served as senior director of programs for the Women Donors Network (WDN) as well as research director for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy.

Gupta has extensive experience in community and labour organising.

She served as research director for SCOPE/AGENDA in Los Angeles, where she helped develop their healthcare jobs campaign, and as research director for the Living Wage Campaign at the LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE).

Additionally, Gupta served as executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and legislative director for the US Student Association.

She holds an MPA from Columbia University and a BA in Government from Clark University.