Research Centers

IRLE is home to several nationally-recognized centers conducting research, education, and outreach on pressing labor and employment issues.

Labor Center

The UC Berkeley Labor Center conducts research on issues such as jobs in the green economy, retirement security, low-wage employment, and the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on California working families. The Center’s education and leadership trainings are educating a diverse new generation of labor leaders.

California Policy Lab

The California Policy Lab generates research insights for government impact. Through hands-on partnerships with government agencies, CPL 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. CPL’s work focuses on six policy areas: education, criminal justice reform, poverty and the social safety net, labor and employment, health, and homelessness and high needs populations.

California Public Employee Relations

California Public Employee Relations (CPER) is the leading program on California public sector labor and employment relations. CPER covers recent developments and laws relating to employment in local government, public schools, higher education, and state government through its pocket guides.

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) is the national leader in early care and education workforce research and policy since 1999. CSCCE acts on the premise that educators should be valued, respected, and guaranteed economic dignity, and that the provision of early care and education is a public responsibility.

Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics

The Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics (CWED) was established in 2007 to focus on wage and employment trends in contemporary labor markets. CWED is nationally recognized for its trailblazing research on the impact of minimum and subminimum wage policies, as well as the effects of the Great Recession, public sector workers, low-wage labor markets, and teacher pay.

Climate and Society Center

The UC Berkeley Climate and Society Center (CSC) brings together faculty and students with California climate justice activists and lawmakers, to undertake critical research on specific policies that will support the state’s transition to renewable energy with zero-carbon emissions for all communities.

Macro Labor Lab

The recently established Macro Labor Center for the Study of Aggregate Labor Markets, Policies, and Institutions (Macro Labor Center) aims to serve as a hub for research at the intersections of labor economics and macroeconomics. Its goal is to further the understanding of aggregate labor markets and of the impacts and workings of labor market policies and institutions. The Center’s director is Prof. Benjamin Schoefer.

Affiliated Programs

Economics for Inclusive Prosperity

Economics for Inclusive Prosperity (EfIP) is a network of academic economists committed to an inclusive economy and society. EfIP generates and publishes policy ideas for addressing growing inequality, drawing from different domains of economics to provide a genuine alternative to the neoliberal status quo.

Opportunity Lab

The Opportunity Lab (O-Lab) is a network of Berkeley faculty generating cutting-edge research addressing the following six areas: climate and environment, crime and criminal justice policy, education and child development policy, health, social safety net and employment, and taxation and inequality.

Interdisciplinary Immigration Workshop

The Interdisciplinary Immigration Workshop meets during the academic year to share in-progress work and research on migration/immigration. The workshop is affiliated with the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative and open to graduate students, undergraduates completing a senior thesis, post-docs, faculty and visiting researchers.

Center for Work, Technology and Society (WTS)

Chaired by IRLE Director Emeritus Clair Brown, the Center for Work, Technology and Society focuses on how to integrate technology into the economy and workplace to maximize benefits and minimize harm for society, workers, and the environment.

California Studies Association

Members of the California Studies Association conduct interdisciplinary research on the past and present of the State of California by a distinguished group of faculty and staff on the Berkeley and Davis campuses.