[2] Claudia was formerly director of macroeconomic policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth,[3] and a Section Chief at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, where she worked in various capacities from 2007 to 2019.

[5] She is best known for the development of the Sahm rule, a Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) indicator for identifying recessions in real-time.

[5] Sahm began her PhD at the University of Michigan in 2001, guided by Matthew D. Shapiro and Miles Spencer Kimball, completing her thesis Risk Tolerance and Asset Allocation in 2007.

[4] Sahm was a Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers for the Obama administration, where she worked on macroeconomic developments and housing policy from 2015 to 2016.

[12][13] In September 2017 Sahm was promoted to Section Chief of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs.

[33] She is also known for her critiques of the culture of the economics profession, citing many specific examples of bullying and harassment she experienced, observed, or had reported to her by others, often directed at female and minority economists.