Eskil Wadensjö has been Professor of Labour Economics at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) at Stockholm University since 1980. He was Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the same university between 1996 and 2006. He has been director of Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies (SULCIS) since 2006. He received a Ph.D. in economics at Lund University in 1972 on a study of economic aspects on immigration to Sweden, and was associate professor at the Department of Economics, Lund University from 1972 to 1980. His main research interests are the economics of international migration, labor market policy and social security. Current research topics are the economic effects of immigration, the integration of immigrants, self-employment, temporary employment agencies and economic aspects of social and occupational insurance.

He has published many books and articles on various subjects. Selected books include The Nordic Labour Market in the 1990's (main editor), North-Holland 1996, Enterprise and the Welfare State (edited together with Martin Rein), Edward Elgar 1997, Immigration to Denmark. International and National Perspectives (with David Coleman, Bent Jensen and Søren Pedersen), Aarhus University Press 1999, Gösta Rehn, the Swedish Model and Labour Market Polices (edited together with Henry Milner), Ashgate 2001, and The Common Nordic Labor Market at 50 (with Peder Pedersen and Marianne Røed), Nordic Council of Ministers, 2008.

Eskil Wadensjö was President of the European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) 1993-99 and Chairman of the Swedish Economic Association 1992-93 and has been member of several governmental committees.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in December 2000.