William Spriggs, Who Took Economists to Task on Race, Dies at 68

William Spriggs, the AFL-CIO chief economist and outspoken critic of how the profession has addressed racial disparities in the US, has died. He was 68.

He died on June 6, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations said Wednesday in a tweet, without citing a cause.

Spriggs, who also taught at Howard University, was one of the profession’s most prominent Black voices, and he did not shy away from taking his colleagues to task over the way they handled racial issues.

William Spriggs speaks at the NABE economic policy conference in Washington in March.

Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Spriggs, who went by Bill, ...