UMass Amherst Alumna Michele Evermore Named to Newly Created U.S. Labor Department Role

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Alumna Michele Evermore, who earned her master’s degree in labor studies from UMass Amherst in 2016, has been appointed by the Biden administration to a newly created role at the U.S. Labor Department as senior advisor on unemployment insurance, a position within the department’s Employment and Training Administration.

Evermore, formerly a senior policy analyst at the non-profit National Employment Law Project, has been described by Bloomberg Law as “a constant voice this past year in media articles and on Capitol Hill calling for Congress, DOL, and state agencies to provide expanded benefits payments to a wider pool of Americans unable to work amid the pandemic-induced downturn.” In her new role she will support the surge in claims for unemployment benefits stemming from the pandemic.

Evermore was previously a legislative advocate for labor unions, including the Service Employees International Union District 1199 New England and National Nurses United. She also worked for the Obama Department of Labor to advance sound benefits policy, employment policy for people with disabilities, and equal pay for equal work. Prior to that, she worked in Congress for a decade, primarily for Senator Tom Harkin and also for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. In those roles, she worked to advance worker protections, organizing rights, and improving retirement security in a variety of private pension plan designs, as well as Social Security.

She has testified before both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Oversight Special Select Committee on the Coronavirus, and is a frequent commentator in the news media, having appeared in national news outlets such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Good Morning America, NPR, Marketplace, the Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today, CBS, ABC, CNBC, CSPAN, Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg, Time and the Financial Times.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is set to become secretary of labor, pending confirmation by the full U.S. Senate. Walsh’s nomination advanced through the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Feb. 11.

While no formal announcement has been made by either the DOL or the Biden administration, Bloomberg Law has published a story on Feb. 11 with more information on Evermore’s appointment.