Beth Truesdale is a sociologist who studies economic inequality, labor markets, public policy, and population aging.
Truesdale's current research focuses on work and aging. She is investigating how Americans in their 50s navigate the years leading to retirement. Her research interweaves in-depth interviews and quantitative data to examine how some occupations make it easier for people to “age well,” while others, especially jobs that are physically demanding, make it harder. She is also the co-editor of a volume titled Overtime: America's Aging Workforce and the Future of "Working Longer," forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
She has a longstanding interest in the relationship between evidence and public policy. She previously contributed to several projects designed to improve services for children and families in the United Kingdom and worked on disability policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Before joining the Upjohn Institute, Truesdale was a research associate and the Sloan Postdoctoral Fellow on Aging and Work at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, as well as degrees from St. Olaf College and the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.