Dr Maria Koumenta

Profile

Roles: 

• Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity (CRED)
• Member of the Department of People and Organisations

 

Dr. Maria Koumenta is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Work and Labour Market Analysis. Her research focuses on labour economics and labour market policy, with particular emphasis on pay, employment and skills.  

She is internationally recognized as a leading authority on occupational regulation, having published extensively in the top academic journals in the field such as Labour Economics, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, Human Relations and Human Resource Management Journal. Her work examines the characteristics and prevalence of occupational regulation and its impact on key labour market outcomes, including earnings, skill acquisition, employment, migration, and social mobility.

Dr. Koumenta has a proven track record of attracting research funding and producing research that delivers measurable impact on policy. She has served as an external economic policy advisor to the UK Department for Business and Trade and led major research projects funded by the UK Government and the European Commission. Her work has directly informed regulatory reforms and labour market strategies, including shaping EU’s and UK’s occupational licensing policy and workforce mobility initiatives. She has provided expert testimony and strategic advice to HM Treasury, BEIS, the Department of Health, and the Social Mobility Commission and her research is regularly cited in parliamentary reports and used to guide policy interventions. Internationally, her research has supported policy frameworks adopted by the EU Member States, the World Bank, and the OECD, impacting labour market governance across multiple jurisdictions.

She serves on the Editorial Boards of Work, Employment & Society and the Industrial Relations Journal. She is also a Research Associate in Economic and Public Policy at the Hellenic Observatory (LSE) and a Senior Research Fellow at the Knee Regulatory Research Centre at West Virginia University, USA.

Dr. Koumenta holds a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE), where she also worked as a researcher at the Centre for Economic Performance.

Teaching

Postgraduate:

• BUSM049: Reward Management
• BUSM188: People Analytics

Research

Research Interests:

Pay structures and pay inequality, employment, skills, occupational regulation, migration, social mobility.

Journal articles

Koumenta, M. And Williams M. (2026). Occupational Licensing, Intergenerational Occupational Persistence and Social Mobility, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.70023

Williams, M., Gifford, J., & Koumenta, M. (2024). Social Class Origin and Job Quality among Higher Managerial and Professional Occupations in the United Kingdom. Sociology, 00380385251339592.

Williams, M., Wang, S., & Koumenta, M. (2024). Ethnicity disparities in job control in the United Kingdom. Industrial Relations Journal, 55(1), 33-53.

Koumenta, M., Pagliero, M., & Rostam-Afschar, D. (2022). Occupational regulation, institutions, and migrants’ labor market outcomes. Labour Economics, 79, 102250.

Greene A. M., Kirton G., Koumenta M. and Humphris A. (2021). The Gender Representation gap: Implications for Workplace Union Effectiveness. Industrial Relations Journal, 52(1), 40-63.

Horton J., Kiosse P.V, Koumenta M and Mitrou E. (2020) The Role of CEOs in the Sustainability of Defined Benefit Pension Plans, Human Resource Management Journal, 31(3), 603-618

Williams, M. and Koumenta M. (2020). Occupational closure and job quality: The case of occupational licensing in Britain. Human Relations, 73(5), 711-736.)

Koumenta M. and Pagliero M. (2019). Occupational regulation in the European Union: coverage and wage effects. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 57(4), 818-849.

Koumenta M. and Williams M. (2019). An anatomy of zero‐hour contracts in the UK. Industrial Relations Journal, 50(1), 20-40. 

Kim, S., Vandenabeele, W., Wright, B.E., Andersen, L.B., Cerase, F.P., Christensen, R.K., Desmarais, C., Koumenta, M., and Leisink, P., (2012) ‘Measuring Public Service Motivation: Developing and Instrument for International Use’, Journal of Public Administration Theory and Research, 23 (1) pp.  79-102,

 

Books and book chapters

Kleiner M. and Koumenta M. (2022) Grease or Grit? International Case Studies of Occupational Licensing and Its Effects on Efficiency and Quality, WE Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Michigan.

Abell P. and Koumenta M. (2019) Case Studies and Statistics in Causal Analysis: The Role of Bayesian Narratives In Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences. 413: 11-25.

Humphris, A, Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M, (2011) Occupational Regulation in the UK and the US: Issues and Policy Implications, in Marden, D. (ed.) Employment in the Lean Years: Policy and prospects for the next decade, Oxford University Press

Koumenta, M. (2011) Modernisation, Privatisation and the Public Service Ethos in the UK, in Marden, D. (ed.) Employment in the Lean Years: Policy and prospects for the next decade, Oxford University Press

 

Supervision

Dr Koumenta is interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of empirical labour economics, work and labour market analysis. You are welcome to contact Dr Koumenta (m.koumenta@qmul.ac.uk) to discuss your proposal and ideas.

Current doctoral students:

• Rebecca Florisson, 'Career mobility over the life course.' 
• Lan Lu ‘Incidence and Labour Market Effects of Overtime in China’

PhD supervision completions:

• Ying Cui, ‘Social Returns to Education – Evidence from China’. Awarded 2024.

• Esther Arenas-Arroyo, 'Labour Market Outcomes of Undocumented Migrants.' Awarded 2015.

Public Engagement

Dr. Maria Koumenta has a long record of public engagement, bridging rigorous academic research with policy-making and public discourse. She has established herself as a leading voice in labour market policy and occupational regulation, and she has consistently influenced policy at both national and international levels.

A major highlight of her engagement was her leadership in a European Union-funded project between 2012 and 2017. She designed and analysed the EU Survey of Regulated Occupations, which became a cornerstone of the EU Transparency and Mutual Evaluation Exercise. Her research revealed that occupational licensing affects around 22% of the EU workforce, with lighter forms of regulation covering an additional 21%. These findings informed the EU Single Market Strategy and contributed to policy proposals aimed at reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens and improving labour market efficiency.

Within the UK, Dr. Koumenta developed the UK Database of Regulated Occupations, integrating it with labour force data to support evidence-based policy decisions. This work underpinned the UK’s Action Plan for implementing the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive, facilitating cross-border mobility for professionals.

This body of work has contributed to the following Impact Case Study ‘Shaping Policy on the Regulation of Occupations in the Labour Market in the EU and UK’ (Impact case study : Results and submissions : REF 2021) submitted to REF2021.

In 2024, Dr. Koumenta was appointed as an External Policy Advisor to the UK Department for Business and Trade’s Labour Market Regulation Unit where she is contributing to policy debates relating to post-Brexit skill shortages and labour mobility. She is also currently advising the OECD’s Economic Research Unit on the revisions to the Product Market Regulation (PMR) Indicator. Her expertise has regularly been sought by international organizations, including the European Commission, the World Bank, and the OECD. She is frequently invited to deliver keynote addresses at major conferences and high-level policy forums.

Beyond policy engagement, Dr. Koumenta actively contributes to public debate through media and commentary. Her research has featured in the Financial Times and the New Statesman and regularly shares insights through the Economics Observatory on topics related to labour market policy.