WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has installed Mary C. Daly, a labor economist who currently serves as the head of research, as the institution’s new president beginning Oct. 1.

Ms. Daly, 55, will succeed John C. Williams, who became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York this year.

She is a widely respected expert on labor markets with an unusual breadth of personal experience. Ms. Daly dropped out of high school at the age of 15, working in a doughnut shop and at Target before a friend persuaded her to earn a general education diploma. She worked her way through college at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, then earned a doctorate from Syracuse University before joining the Fed in 1996.

As president of the San Francisco Fed, she will immediately become a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which decides monetary policy, including whether to raise or lower interest rates. She will vote in November and December as part of a regular rotation of Fed presidents. After that, she will not vote again until 2021.