Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

The Institute for Research on Labor and Employment promotes better understanding of the conditions, policies, and institutions that affect the well-being of workers and their families and communities. We inform public debate with hard evidence about inequality, the economy, and the nature of work.

What IRLE does

• We partner with faculty and researchers at UC Berkeley and beyond to foster innovative analysis and research that improves workers’ lives.
• Through this research, we bring work and workers into academic and policy conversations and show how labor issues affect communities and institutions—and vice versa.   
• We activate and support young scholars at Berkeley, as well as established academics, providing funding and an intellectual center for debate.

Hub for research and education

IRLE is home to several nationally-recognized centers and programs that conduct research, education, and outreach on labor and employment issues. The largest of our centers and principal outreach program is the Center for Labor Research and Education, also known as the Labor Center. IRLE also houses the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics (CWED), Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE), California Policy Lab (CPL), and California Public Employee Relations (CPER). Our centers provide in-depth research and policy analysis in areas such as minimum wage policies, the early childcare workforce, homelessness, and public sector labor and employment law.  Two more recent IRLE initiatives, the People Lab and Economics for Inclusive Prosperity (EfIP), are generating new research on the public sector workforce and policies to reduce inequality, respectively.

IRLE’s Working Paper series publishes the latest research by faculty affiliates; our Policy Brief series translates academic research for a public audience. Since 1961, IRLE has published the academic journal Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, the leading interdisciplinary journal in the field of employment and labor relations.

Home for scholars

IRLE fosters intellectual community, with public events featuring national academic and policy leaders that inform and provoke discussion. Each year, we host visiting scholars from around the globe who work on independent research projects at the Berkeley campus in partnership with our affiliated faculty in economics, sociology, business, law, public policy, and more. In recent years, we have held conferences on wage stagnation and income inequality, the minimum wage, wage standards for agricultural workers, and immigration reform.

Labor education and training for the next generation  

IRLE provides leadership training and coursework for UC Berkeley students interested in labor markets, workers, and unions. These include Labor Summer internships, undergraduate research apprenticeship programs, and courses in labor and community organizing.  

IRLE provides dissertation fellowships, along with research grants for undergraduate and graduate students. We also support interdisciplinary working groups which bring students and faculty together to discuss themes such as policies affecting migrant agricultural workers, U.S. labor law, and the criminal justice system.

Research support for faculty

To drive essential research on work and employment, we directly fund faculty research and provide support for faculty seeking external funding (i.e. from foundations, government agencies, and private funders). IRLE also hosts interdisciplinary research projects, providing student and faculty affiliates with collaborative meeting space, opportunities for publication, and research support and promotion.