michael.bernick@sdma.com

Michael Bernick, the former director of the California labor department, the Employment Development Department (EDD), joined the Milken Institute in February 2004, as a research fellow, focusing on job creation and workforce development projects.

Bernick was the EDD director from 1999 through January 2004. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University (Balliol College), and the Boalt Hall law school at the University of California, Berkeley.

Since joining the Milken Institute, Bernick has been active in workforce projects throughout California, including projects of workforce preparation tied to major infrastructure projects, skills upgrading for low wage workers, training for the emerging health care workforce, and training tied to the rapidly growing social media/internet commerce firms. He hosts an Autism Job Club for adults with autism and is on the board of the Specialist Guild, a software testing business for persons with autism.

For several years, Bernick has done a weekly posting on jobs in California on the statewide business blog, Fox and Hounds, and is currently at work on his latest book, "The Emerging Job World -- and Your Place in It." Bernick has written three previous books on employment, "The Dreams of Jobs" (1985), "Urban Illusions" (1987) and "Job Training That Gets Results" (2006), as well as "Transit Villages in the 21st Century" (1996) with UC Berkeley Professor Robert Cervero.

Bernick resides in San Francisco, where he is counsel to the Sedgwick law firm.