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Undergraduate Admissions

Our flexible, interdisciplinary major lets students pursue a wide range of academic interests and careers.

Undergraduate Admissions
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Graduate Programs

Study the workplace comprehensively with the world's highest concentration of workplace faculty.

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Professional Education

Invest in your career by learning from instructors who blend world-leading research with business-tested practicality.

Professional Education

It takes work to make an impact

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Undergraduate Programs

Our flexible, interdisciplinary major lets students pursue a wide range of academic interests and careers.

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Graduate Programs

Study the workplace comprehensively with the world's highest concentration of workplace faculty.

Blurred background photo for Graduate Programs

Professional Education

Invest in your career by learning from instructors who blend world-leading research with business-tested practicality.

Blurred background photo for Professional Education

Every ILRie Has a Story

JC Tretter ’13 talks in an interview about broken bones, ruffling feathers, a bum knee, almost quitting football, constant eating, the fun of pro football, what’s next (not lawyering, fyi) and Cornell places he loves.

Joseph Carl "JC" Tretter Jr. '13
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ILR School Events

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Joint Labor & Public Economics Workshop: Matthew Johnson

Matthew Johnson, Duke Management Practices, Workplace Injuries, and the Effects of Government Safety Regulations (with Nick Bloom, David I. Levine, and Alison Pei) Abstract: Workplace injuries are a massive economic burden, yet they persist across a wide range of workplaces. Why? Reducing injury risk entails financial and opportunity cost, but it may also require adoption of management practices that are slow to diffuse. Linking confidential data from the Census Bureau with data on workplace injuries, we find that establishments with more structured management practices (monitoring production, setting targets, and establishing incentives) have substantially lower injury rates, a relationship that holds within industries and within establishments over time. We then examine how this variation in management influences the effects of government safety regulations on workers and firms. Enforcement inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reduce injuries, but only at establishments with few structured management practices. Inspections also lead to an increase in establishments’ use of structured management practices. Inspections have no detectable effect on establishments’ survival, investment, or productivity.

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Joint Labor & Public Economics Workshop: Matthew Johnson

Labor Advocacy Career Fair

Discover internships and full-time opportunities with labor unions, law firms representing unions and/or individuals, and other organizations dedicated to workers’ rights. The Labor Advocacy Career Fair (formerly known as the Social Justice Career Fair) is open to all Ithaca-based Cornell students and will be a featured event during the university's annual Union Days series, sponsored by the ILR School.

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Labor Advocacy Career Fair

Unionizing the Ivory Tower - A Special Book Event with the author, Al Davidoff

The Worker Institute is sponsoring a special book event that should be of interest to union leaders and activists, social justice organizers, labor studies students, and everyone wishing to promote worker rights. Unionizing the Ivory Tower chronicles how a thousand low-paid custodians, cooks, and gardeners succeeded in organizing a union at Cornell University.
book launch
Unionizing the Ivory Tower - A Special Book Event with the author, Al Davidoff

Future of Work Fellowships

The ILR Future of Work fellowship program supports postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students who work with our world-leading faculty on innovative and impactful research projects.

This fellowship program is designed to promote the benefits of strong collaboration between newer researchers and resident faculty members in studying impactful topics related to the future of work. Fellows and their faculty sponsors alike are enabled to address challenging research questions and break out of any stereotypes or default thinking around the future of work.

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“My time at the ILR School helped me understand both labor and management perspectives, which has proven to be a solid foundation for my career.”
Rob Manfred, Commissioner of Major League Baseball

Justin Bloesch Q&A

Faculty Spotlight

Assistant Professor Justin Bloesch, whose research covers labor economics and macroeconomics, joined the ILR faculty in the fall. 

Justin Bloesch
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ILRies Change
the Future of Work.

Learn about ILR's impact

Catherwood Library

The Martin P. Catherwood Library is the most comprehensive resource on labor and employment in North America, offering expert research support through reference services, instruction, online guides and access to premier collections.

Studying in the window bay at the Catherwood Library
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ILR in the News

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Higher NYS Minimum Wage Would Boost Spending, Create Jobs

Cornell Chronicle
Raising New York state’s minimum hourly wage to $21.25, as proposed in the NYS Raise the Wage Act currently before the state Legislature, would help nearly two-thirds of workers earn a living wage, according to data from the Cornell ILR Wage Atlas.
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Higher NYS Minimum Wage Would Boost Spending, Create Jobs

ILRie Spends Semester In Jordan

Margot Treadwell spent her semester abroad exploring her interest in Arabic, women’s labor globally, and immersing herself in a new culture.
Margot Treadwell ‘24 in Jordan
ILRie Spends Semester In Jordan

ILRie Interns With U.S. District Court Judge

Alex Herazy ’25 spent a semester interning with U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman as part of a credit internship
Alex Herazy ’25 with Judge Richard Berman '64
ILRie Interns With U.S. District Court Judge

Compensation Fund Could Boost NYS Child Care Industry

Cornell Chronicle
“The Status of Child Care in New York State,” a new report released by the Buffalo Co-Lab, finds that recent increases in state subsidies helped stabilize the industry through the pandemic, but were insufficient to reduce inequities in access and quality.
A child care worker reads to young children who follow along in the book she holds.
Compensation Fund Could Boost NYS Child Care Industry

Campus Life

A view of student life at Cornell University's ILR School in Ithaca, NY.

@cornellilr

Explore diverse career paths in labor advocacy! Discover internship and full-time opportunities with labor unions, law firms, and other organizations dedicated to workers’ rights. For a list of registered organizations, check out the event on Handshake. #cornell #ilrschool #cornellilr

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Born to sit on the Slope, forced to lock in for prelim season… #cornelluniversity #cornellilr #ilrschool

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Annelies Bergmann and Izzy Daniel are two of the four Cornell women's ice hockey team members who have been invited to the 2024 U.S. Women’s National Team evaluation camp in Lake Placid! Camp will take place March 27-30. Best of luck to our ILRie student-athletes! #ilrschool #yellcornell #cornell …

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Midterms are upon us! We wanted to remind you of all the amazing resources that are available to you at our very own Catherwood! Study Spaces! Whether you’re into the tranquility of quiet zones or the buzz of collaboration, Catherwood has a variety of study spaces just for you! Reserve a study…

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Today, students met with AFT President Randi Weingarten and learned from her experiences in the labor movement. Weingarten is teaching a weeklong course “Special Topics in ILR studies” which meets from Monday, March 4–Thursday, March 7. She is also speaking at the 2024 ILR Union Days Kickoff event…

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ILR ambassadors are here to remind you that transfer applications are due March 15th! #cornellilr #cornelluniversity #irschool

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