Thomas R. Bailey is the George and Abby O'Neill Professor of Economics and Education in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Bailey holds a PhD in labor economics from MIT. He is an economist, with specialties in education, labor economics, and econometrics.

In 1996, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Dr. Bailey established the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, which conducts a large portfolio of qualitative and quantitative research based on fieldwork at community colleges and analysis of national- and state-level datasets. The research focuses particularly on access and student success at community college, with a particular focus on the experiences low income and minority students. In July 2006, Bailey became the Director of the National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR), funded by a five-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. Since 1992, Dr. Bailey has also been the Director of the Institute on Education (IEE) and the Economy at Teachers College.

His articles have appeared in a wide variety of education, policy-oriented and academic journals, and he authored or co-authored several books on the employment and training of immigrants and the extent and effects of on-the-job training. His most recent book, co-edited with Vanessa Morest, is Defending the Community College Equity Agenda (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006). Other books include Working Knowledge: Work-Based Learning and Education Reform (Routledge, 2004), co-authored with Katherine Hughes and David Moore;. Manufacturing Advantage (Cornell University Press, 2000), written with Eileen Appelbaum, Peter Berg, and Arne Kalleberg; and The Double Helix of Education and the Economy (IEE, 1992), co-authored with Sue Berryman.

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