Obama's Pick for Economic Adviser: Alan Krueger

(Newser) – President Obama is set to nominate Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger as his top economic adviser. Krueger, who helped lead the Treasury Department through Obama’s first two years in office, would become the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. In the position, he’d likely urge government action on job creation, with a focus on battling long-term unemployment, the Wall Street Journal notes. The position, held by Austan Goolsbee until this month, requires Senate confirmation.

Krueger has been on Princeton’s faculty since 1987; he also worked as the chief economist in Bill Clinton’s Labor Department. As an academic, he has examined factors slowing job growth in the past decade; in the Treasury Department he studied tax incentives for hiring and the “cash for clunkers” program. “Given his expertise in labor economics, he is precisely the right choice to lead the CEA at this moment in history,” said a rep for Timothy Geithner. Added a former CEA chair under Reagan: “Alan is an expert in labor-market problems, taxation, and the economics of terrorism. I hope the president listens to him."