Ellen Rissman is an assistant vice president of business cycle analysis and communications in the economic research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In that position, she manages a team providing timely policy analysis, advice, and communications support to the president and other senior executives at the Chicago Fed and is actively engaged in public outreach efforts. Her primary research interests include self-employment and entrepreneurship, structural change in the labor market, and wage and price dynamics. Her research has been published in the Journal of Monetary Economics and the Journal of Labor Economics and has also been featured in Economic Perspectives and Chicago Fed Letter—the Chicago Fed’s research periodicals. In addition, she closely follows national and regional developments in government spending and revenues.

Rissman joined the Chicago Fed in 1985 as a research economist. She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and a master’s and doctorate in economics from Northwestern University. Rissman has taught for many years at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies in the Masters of Public Policy and Administration program.