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Gabriela D'Souza

Economist and Micro-Data Specialist

Australian Public Service

Biography

Hi, my name is Gaby and I’m an economist and micro-data specialist. I currently work in immigration policy at The Australian Public Service. I previously worked on productivity policy at The Australian Government Treasury and was a Senior economist at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. My research interests include immigration and the labour market, particularly areas of skills mismatch among migrants, and human capital accumulation.

In my spare time, I like lifting heavy things and playing blues riffs on old classic Stratocaster guitars. I once co-edited a (micro-)famous blog called Econlolcats with fellow co-conspirator Mike Pottenger.

Interests

  • Immigration
  • Labour markets
  • Human capital accumulation

Education

  • Master of Economics, 2018

    Monash University

  • Bachelor of Applied Economics, 2011

    University of Canberra

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Economist and Micro-Data Specialist

Australian Public Service

Present Canberra
Immigration data analysis in the Australian Public Service.
 
 
 
 
 

Economist

Australian Government Treasury

Canberra
 
 
 
 
 

Senior Economist

Committee for Economic Development of Australia

Nov 2018 – Melbourne
Conducted research on immigration and labour market related issues. Responsibilities included:

  • Analysed publicly available datasets and conducted modelling to estimate the effects of various interventions
  • Wrote reports to summarise findings from analysis
  • Presented to CEDA audiences around the country and spoke with media to raise the profile of the organisation
 
 
 
 
 

Independent consultant

Own company

Jul 2018 – Jan 2019 Melbourne
Worked with a Melbourne based ed-tech company to analyse student level data and model the outcomes of students. Responsibilities included:

  • Advised education institutions on techniques that can be used to understand student outcomes
  • Analysed private administrative datasets and provided descriptive analysis
  • Used private administrative datasets to build models to evaluate outcomes of students
 
 
 
 
 

Senior Advisor - Data Analytics

RMIT University

Jul 2015 – Jul 2018 Melbourne
Worked in the VC’s offices advising on higher education policy. Responsibilities included:

  • Developed the university’s 5-year strategy to shift focus of a multi billion dollar institution
  • Modelled the impacts of government policy changes on student outcomes
  • Built models of student outcomes to identify predictors of exit from university
 
 
 
 
 

Associate

Grattan Institute

Jun 2014 – Jul 2015 Melbourne
Worked on superannuation and higher education policy. Responsibilities included:

  • Conducted research on superannuation funds and identified factors associated with cost blowouts in the super industry
  • Contributed to research on equity measures for access to universities
 
 
 
 
 

Researcher

Centre for Research and Action in Public Health

Jul 2013 – Jul 2014 Canberra
  • Created a framework for a structural equation model to understand the different attitudes towards climate change
  • Built a logistic model to understand the impact long term impacts of social disadvantage and estimate the characteristics of exit
 
 
 
 
 

Research Officer/ Research Assistant / Research Intern

National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM)

Jun 2011 – Jun 2013 Canberra
  • coauthored working papers and journal articles on various aspects of social policy, superannuation, education and labour market indicators
  • research investigating the characteristics of homelessness
  • presented research at various academic seminars and conferences.

Projects

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All Immigration Data Higher Education

Impact of the demand driven system on earnings.

Estimating how a policy that rapidly increased the number of university enrolments affected graduate salaries.

Skill mismatch and migrants

Researching the skilled migrant intake

Unlocking data in the public interest

For more info on this visit the link.

Presentations and media

Presentation to Annual Migration Conference 2020

Presentation on temporary migration to the Law Council of Australia - trends and implications for policy
Mar 7, 2020

WOMBAT 2019

Presentation to WOMBAT 2019 on estimating the impacts of migration on labour markets
Nov 17, 2019

Podcast with Peter Martin and Gigi Foster on immigration (ABC Radio National)

Impacts of Immigration on the Australian labour market. Link available here
May 19, 2019

Publications and working papers

Estimating the effects of recent migrants on local labour market outcomes

We find no evidence that migrants have taken the jobs of local workers. To the contrary, we find positive effects on the labour force participation rates, and wages.
PDF Slides

A higher education bubble?

Estimating the impacts of the demand driven system on the starting salaries of new graduates
PDF Slides

Contact