Robert Reich

Robert B. Reich (born June 24, 1946) is an American economist, author, and former public official who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Labor from January 22, 1993, to January 10, 1997, under President Bill Clinton. A professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy until his retirement in 2023, Reich has focused his career on labor economics, workforce development, and critiques of income inequality.

During his tenure as Labor Secretary, Reich enforced the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, providing unpaid leave for family and medical reasons to eligible workers, and led initiatives against sweatshop labor practices in the apparel industry, including public campaigns and regulatory actions. These efforts aimed to protect American workers amid globalization, though Reich later expressed regret over not more aggressively countering rising economic disparities during the Clinton administration.

Robert Reich was born on June 24, 1946, at Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Mildred Freshman Reich (1919–2006) and Edwin Saul Reich (1914–2016). His family was Jewish, with roots in the local community amid Scranton's post-World War II economic landscape, where the city faced decline in its anthracite coal and manufacturing sectors. The family was middle-class but not affluent, shaped by Edwin Reich's ownership of a women's clothing store that catered primarily to the wives of factory workers.