John Martin completed his undergraduate economics degree at University College Dublin. He then did post-graduate studies at Nuffield College Oxford where he became a Research Fellow, and a Lecturer in Economics at Merton College and the University of Buckingham. In 1977, he joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. At OECD, he worked in both the Economics Department and the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Directorate where he was Director from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He was the founding Editor of the OECD Employment Outlook and also edited the OECD Economic Outlook. He has advised both the French and Irish governments on employment policy, and is currently a member of the National Statistics Board of Ireland. He has published extensively in international trade and labour economics.