Report Tracks NYS Policy Issues

Research-based data and policy analysis on a range of issues impacting New York state’s workers, unions and employers are part of the ILR School’s first annual “New York at Work” report.

Findings documented in the report include:

• About 42% of 500 food delivery workers surveyed in New York City reported non-payment or underpayment; 49% reported having been in an accident or crash while working and of these workers, 75% said that they had paid for the medical care with personal funds. More than half of the workers experienced bike theft, and about 30 percent of them said that they were physically assaulted during the thefts.

• Nearly 11% of 800 New York residents polled have experienced quid pro quo workplace sexual harassment, and 21.9 percent have experienced workplace sexual harassment that created a hostile work environment; 31.1 percent of women and 18.9% of men have experienced at least one of these forms of harassment

• Climate change concerns 75% of 800 New York residents polled; 70% said extreme weather events had an economic impact on their local community in the past five years; 74% said that state labor, industry and government leaders should do more to respond to climate change and 75% support public investments in renewable energy projects as a way to create high-quality jobs in the state.

“Built around multiple innovative institutes and programs that serve as our centers on work, ILR Outreach has tremendous impact across the state through our policy work, applied research and trainings. Our inaugural annual New York state policy report is a wonderful illustration of the many important labor, employment and work-related issues that we engage with,” said ILR Associate Dean for Outreach Ariel Avgar, Ph.D.’08.

“We are excited to share these insights with policymakers, scholars and practitioners. We have been doing this work for 75 years and will continue to tackle central labor and employment challenges in the decades ahead,” said Avgar, a professor in ILR’s Department of Labor Relations, Law, and History.

ILR Dean Alex Colvin, Ph.D.’99, said, “The New York at Work Report shows the breadth and depth of the research and policy analysis being done at ILR that can help the state address key issues in the world of work. This will be the first edition of an important new annual contribution to ILR’s Outreach mission.” Colvin is ILR’s Kenneth F. Kahn '69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman '75, 'MS '76, Professor of Conflict Resolution.

The ILR School, founded in 1945 as the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, was established by the New York State Legislature to improve labor-management relations. ILR Outreach, comprised of about 165 employees based in Ithaca, New York City and Buffalo, conducts about $10 million dollars in sponsored research each year and currently has 25 social science research projects in progress that focus on work, employment and labor issues. Outreach educational programs on topics such as human resources, labor relations and conflict resolution have served more than 100,000 participants since March 2020.

Beginning in 2022, ILR will publish “New York at Work” on Labor Day. The 2021 edition includes eight sections:

• Data for a Just Recovery in New York: Toward Racial and Worker Justice in the Covid-19 Era and Beyond
• Power and Voice at Work: New Yorkers View Employer Retaliation as a Barrier to Addressing Workplace Problems and Express Desire for Union Representation
• Interactive Mapping of COVID during the Pandemic
• New York Expungement of Criminal Records to Increase Access to Employment
• The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA): Policy and Implementation Issues
• How New York State Can Tackle Climate Change, Reverse Inequality and Build a Robust, Equitable Clean Energy Economy: Key Challenges and Recommendations
• Stopping Sexual Harassment in the Empire State: Past, Present and a Possible Future
• Essential Delivery: Working Conditions of App-based Food Couriers in New York City