[1] Spriggs' work and research focused on workforce discrimination, minimum wage, national and international labor standards, and pay equity.

[5][1] Spriggs attended public elementary schools in northeast and southeast Washington D.C. at the same time his mother was finishing her college degree.

[7] After high school, Spriggs earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science from Williams College.

[9] Spriggs was an assistant professor for two years at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he taught introductory economics.

Spriggs left the EPI in 1993 to join the Clinton administration as the director designate of the National Commission for Employment Policy.

[11] Spriggs left the Clinton administration in 1998 to join the Institute for Opportunity and Equality League as its executive director and advocate for research, advocacy and progressive public policy.

He also accepted the position of chief economist for the AFL-CIO; through this role, he joined the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

[15] In June 2020, Spriggs released an open letter to economists in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests.

[18] The letter received a great deal of media coverage,[19] with Spriggs invited to lengthy interviews by multiple major publications.