About

IRLE is an interdisciplinary institute at the University of California, Berkeley that connects world-class research with policy to improve workers’ lives, communities, and society.

The Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) promotes better understanding of the conditions, policies, and institutions that contribute to worker and community well-being and economic justice. We inform public debate with hard evidence about inequality, the economy, and the nature of work.

What We Do

Foster innovative analysis and research that improves workers’ lives

Bridge academia, the labor movement, and the public sector with policy solutions to real-world problems

Support emerging scholars and established academics at Berkeley with research funding and a thriving intellectual community

Our centers are shaping policy and debate

IRLE is home to several nationally recognized centers and programs that conduct research, education, and outreach on labor and employment issues. Our centers have played a leading role in finding solutions to the most urgent social and economic issues facing working families in California, providing in-depth analysis in areas such as minimum wages, climate justice, the affordability crisis, the inequitable child care system, and worker protections from AI.

Creating a blueprint for a just transition to a carbon-neutral economy

As California develops leading climate policies, the Labor Center is working with environmental and worker groups on research and policy development to support the creation of good jobs.

Supporting the struggling child care workforce

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment was the first to illustrate the poverty wages early childhood educators receive and how this impacts the quality of education–permanently changing the conversation.

Measuring the impact of minimum wage policies

Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics and Labor Center research on the minimum wage and living wage has provided government entities with the best information available as they weigh design policy for local workers, businesses, and residents.

Partnering with government agencies to harness the power of research and administrative data

Through hands-on partnerships with government agencies, California Policy Lab performs rigorous research across issue silos and builds the data infrastructure necessary to improve programs and policies that millions of Californians rely on every day.

Over the past two decades, Berkeley’s economics department and associated institutes have been at the forefront of two critical changes in the practice of economics: a heightened emphasis on empirical research, and an increasing focus on inequality… IRLE has long been a fount of progressive economic studies and policy advocacy.

Harold Meyerson

The American Prospect

A home for established and emerging labor scholars

IRLE provides funding, community, and research opportunities to faculty and students across the UC Berkeley campus. By expanding research and educational opportunities for students, we help build a strong pipeline of future labor and employment scholars, activists, and practitioners reflective of the diversity of California.

Annual research awards

IRLE provides support to dozens of faculty members, graduate students, and dissertation fellows conducting critical research on the world of work.

Labor education in the classroom and in the field

The Labor Center’s popular Labor Studies courses allow students to hone and apply community-engaged research and organizing skills for social justice while earning academic credit. Now in its third decade, the Labor Center’s Labor Summer is a rare paid educational internship that connects students with the labor movement in California.

Social Sciences Research Pathways

Through this innovative paid program, undergraduate mentees develop fundamental research skills and receive meaningful mentorship from graduate researchers to prepare them for future scholarly pursuits. In turn, graduate student mentors gain experience leading a research team and the conscientious support of undergraduate mentees.

Visiting Scholars Program

Each year we host a cohort of emerging and established researchers from across the globe and convene for lively weekly research presentations and discussions.

Staff Leadership

Steve Raphael, Director and Professor of Public Policy
Lori Ann Ospina, Associate Director
Barbara Campbell, Assistant Director

Faculty Advisory Board

David Card, Professor Emeritus of Economics
William H. Dow, Henry J. Kaiser Professor of Health Economics
Catherine Fisk, Professor of Law
Hilary Hoynes, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities
Paul Pierson, John Gross Endowed Chair, Professor of Political Science

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