He has written extensively on economic inequality, unemployment, the new economy, the welfare state, and other topics for both academic and popular audiences.
Schmitt's research has focused primarily on inequality in the US labor market and the role of labor-market institutions in explaining international differences in economic performance, particularly between the United States and Europe.
Schmitt has co-authored (with Lawrence Mishel and Jared Bernstein) three editions of The State of Working America[1](Cornell University Press).
He has also contributed to The American Prospect, The Boston Review, Challenge, The Guardian, The International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, and other newspapers and magazines.
He has an undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and an M.Sc.