UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE)

Negotiating tech A searchable inventory of contract provisions from over 175 union agreements showing how collective bargaining has been used to address workplace technologies, protect worker rights, and shape technol...

Are you a union negotiator, researcher, policymaker, or journalist tracking how digital tech is used at work--and how unions are responding?

Explore @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social's inventory of collective bargaining provisions related to workplace tech: laborcenter.berkeley.edu/negotiating-...

#EconSky: @capolicylab.bsky.social is hiring a labor-focused data analyst.

Apply today: capolicylab.org/careers/data...

📬 Our July newsletter is out now!

Meet our research awardees and learn about upcoming student opportunities, fall events, and the latest research highlights from our centers.

🗞️ Read the newsletter: us17.campaign-archive.com?u=1af5855024...
🔗 Subscribe to stay connected: mailchi.mp/berkeley/irl...

Graduate student research awardees: Marco Badilla Maroto, Samuel Ayers, Dustin Swonder, Brenda Sciepura, AnneMarie Bryson, @javierfreire.bsky.social, Steve Ramos, and Maribel Estrada Calderon

Learn more the 2025 cohort: irle.berkeley.edu/student-oppo...

Dissertation fellows: Sofia Guo, @alanyan.bsky.social, Teresita Cruz Vital, Max Snyder, Jasmine Sanders, Afras Sial, and Alessandro Marchetti-Bowick (not pictured)

Learn more the 2025 cohort: irle.berkeley.edu/student-oppo...

Faculty research awardees: Enrico Moretti (Economics), Carlos Schmidt-Padilla (GSPP), Jennifer Skeem (GSPP), Laura (Layla) Kwong (Public Health), Trond Petersen (Sociology, and Alexandra Hill (ARE)

Learn more the 2025 cohort: irle.berkeley.edu/faculty-reso...

🏆 We’re thrilled to announce the recipients of our annual research awards.

This year, we received an unprecedented number of applications. The 21 selected projects stood out for their potential for meaningful research insights.

Join us in congratulating these exceptional Berkeley scholars.

Good to see that in the new Clarivate Journal Citation Report the IR Berkeley Impact Factor (JIF) rose from 2.4 in 2023 to 2.6 in 2024, with a move up the rankings in Industrial Relations and Labor from 19/51 to 14/52 @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social

Session 5: Who benefits from racial inequality, with ‪@michaelreich.bsky.social‬

Hope to see you! irle.berkeley.edu/events/minim...

Session 4: Downstream effects of Minimum Wages (chaired by Alexandra Hill), with @kristaruffini.bsky.social, @annastansbury.bsky.social, and Jason Sockin

Keynote: David Card, “Employer Wage-Setting in Low-Wage Labor Markets”

Session 2: Employer power in low wage labor markets (chaired by Todd Sorensen), with @sydneecaldwell.bsky.social, @arindube.bsky.social, and Suresh Naidu

Session 1: Minimum wage effects: Where are we now (chaired by @elopezlira.bsky.social), with Ellora Derenoncourt, @jcwetcoast.bsky.social, and @dsosinskiy.bsky.social

#EconSky: Last chance to register for virtual attendance at Friday's Minimum Wages and Monopsony Conference, featuring an all-star line of labor economists.

Learn more and register: irle.berkeley.edu/events/minim...

We're one week out from the "Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power"! Virtual registration is still open for this one-day event.

Register today: irle.berkeley.edu/minimum-wage...

@elopezlira.bsky.social @jcwetcoast.bsky.social @dsosinskiy.bsky.social @sydneecaldwell.bsky.social @arindube.bsky.social @kristaruffini.bsky.social @annastansbury.bsky.social @jamesparrottnyc.bsky.social @dkoust.bsky.social @michaelreich.bsky.social

Minimum Wages and Monopsony Power: MichalReichFest. June 6, 2025. Learn more: irle.berkeley.edu/events

Virtual registration is still open for the "Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power" conference! Featuring an all-star lineup of labor economists, this one-day event also honors career of Dr. Michael Reich.

📅 June 6, 2025 | 8am - 5pm
🔗 Register today: irle.berkeley.edu/events/minim...

Starting soon, don't miss the Climate and Society Center's Clair Brown in this important discussion about the Climate Superfund.

Americans favor labor unions over big business now more than ever, analysis of new data @epi.org from me & Adam Reich of Columbia Labor Lab.

In data back 60 years, Americans' sentiments are both warmer toward unions & cooler towards big business than ever before.
www.epi.org/blog/america...

Starting soon! Join @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social, @techequity.us, and Warehouse Workers Resource Center for a three-part webinar series that will cut through the AI hype to help better understand digital technologies in the workplace and how to respond through collective bargaining and public policy.

Today @ 5:30 pm! @jazbrisack.bsky.social @sbworkersunited.org in conversation with @rbreich.bsky.social.

New research from @laurellucia.bsky.social @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social estimates that California could lose up to 217,000 jobs if Congress cuts Medicaid.

🔗 Read the brief: laborcenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u...

Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power Conference 2025. MichaelReichFest. June 6, 2025 at UC Berkeley's Alumni House and streaming via Zoom. Learn more and register: irle.berkeley.edu/events

Register now for the Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power Conference at UC Berkeley on June 6.

Join leading scholars for this one-day conference, which also honors Michael Reich’s influential career.

Space is limited. Register: irle.berkeley.edu/minimum-wage...

#EconSky #MinimumWage #LaborEconomics

Call for proposals:

CA labor economists are invited to submit papers for this year's All-California Labor Economics Conference, to be held Sept 11-12 at @siepr.bsky.social, and organized by @maya-rossin-slater.bsky.social and Isaac Sorkin. #EconSky

Apply by May 31: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

🗞️ Our April newsletter is here, full of funding opportunities, upcoming events, and new research from our centers.

Read: us17.campaign-archive.com?u=1af5855024...

📬 Subscribe to stay connected with the latest from IRLE: berkeley.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe/po...

Michael Reich on how political polarization has impacted debate on the minimum wage

“The minimum wage doesn't kill jobs. It kills job vacancies.”

Listen to michaelreich.bsky.social in conversation with Orley Ashenfelter on "The Work Goes On" podcast @princetonecon.bsky.social.

irs100.princeton.edu/podcasts/mic...

Our journal, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, is accepting submissions for a special issue on Gender and Industrial Relations, edited by Rae Cooper,
Jennifer Tomlinson, Laura Good and Chris Wright.

Submissions due April 14. Learn more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

📢 Funding opportunity for early career scholars:

The Family Policy Hub is offering $10K–$30K grants to Berkeley grad students, postdocs & junior faculty evaluating the effects of family policies on reducing racial inequities.

🔹 Next review date: 4/18
🔹 Apply: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

IRLE Call for Proposals: 2025-2026 Research Awards: Faculty Research Awards (Up to $30K); Dissertation Fellowship ($15K stipend + tuition/fees); Grad Student Research Awards (Up to $6K)

📣 UC Berkeley faculty & grad students—IRLE’s annual research awards cycle is now open! Apply by April 11:

🔹 Faculty Research Awards: irle.berkeley.edu/faculty-reso...
🔹 Dissertation Fellowship: irle.berkeley.edu/student-oppo...
🔹 Grad Student Research Awards: irle.berkeley.edu/student-oppo...

Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society: Vol 64, No 2 Click on the title to browse this issue

Out now. Issue 2 in 2025. Five of the six papers are free to download via #OpenAcess onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1468232x... @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social @sriucl.bsky.social