Pia Orrenius is a vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Dr. Orrenius’s research focuses on Mexico–U.S. migration, unauthorized immigration, and U.S. immigration policy. As a labor economist at the Dallas Fed, she analyzes the regional economy, with special focus on labor markets and demographic change. She is also adjunct professor at Baylor University and a Tower Center Fellow at The Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University.

Dr. Orrenius spent the 2004–2005 academic year as senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President, Washington D.C. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and B.A. degrees in economics and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2007.