Dr. Yonnas Kefle was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  He received his elementary education in Our Lady of Perpetual Help; a small Catholic school, and attended Tafari Makonen High School in Addis Ababa.  He emigrated to Djibouti (then a French colony), fleeing a communist military dictatorship in Ethiopia.  After being granted political asylum, he moved to France where he studied for his Baccalaureate at the University of Paris VII during 1977-78.  He came to the U.S. in 1979 and settled in the Washington area.
He pursued his studies and earned a B.A. in economics in 1983 from the University of the District of Columbia.  He continued his graduate studies with full Academic Scholarship at Howard University.  He completed the MA program in Economics in 1986 and received his Ph. D in Economics in 1992. 

While a graduate student, Dr. Kefle worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Social Sciences, and then as a Graduate Research Fellow in the Economics Department at Howard University during 1985-1988.  He also took an internship with the D.C. Government, Department of Human Services, Office of Postsecondary Education Research and Assistance, as a Statistician.  He joined the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in January 1990 while he was a doctoral candidate.  Over the years, he has received several commendations, including a good job award and the Secretary’s Exceptional Achievement Award.

In 1999, Dr. Kefle was detailed to the U.S. Department of State to serve as an overseas Labor Attaché.  As part of that program, he underwent an extensive French and Haitian Creole language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Virginia.  He briefly worked in the Western Hemisphere Bureau at the Department of State, following which he served as the Labor Attaché in the American Embassy in Haiti from February 2000 until December, 2001. Upon completing his Foreign Service, he received the Department of State Meritorious Honor Award for outstanding contributions.  He then returned to his Economist position at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and served until 2006.

Dr. Kefle founded Applied Math & Economics, LLC, a Research/Consulting Services company in 2006.  His research interests include the economics of compensation, the theory of Human Capital and economic development in emerging countries.  Dr. Kefle is an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Frederick Community College in Maryland.  He also serves as board member in civic organizations such as the Frederick County Literacy Council.