About
The Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to advancing labor research and education for workplace justice. Through the work of its units – UCLA Labor Center, Human Resources Roundtable, and the Labor Occupational Safety and Health program – the Institute forms wide-ranging research agendas that carry UCLA into the Los Angeles community and beyond.
For over 70 years, the Institute has conducted timely and impactful research on labor markets and how work impacts workers and their families. As home to the UCLA Labor Center, our research on immigrants, young people, and low-wage workers has driven policy change, including minimum wage, paid sick leave, and wage theft. Through UCLA Labor Studies Program, we place over 300 students into internships in social justice and governmental organizations across the country every year. The Institute’s Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) has trained thousands of workers on health and safety measures that are sometimes the difference between life and death. And, the Human Resources Roundtable (HARRT) works with companies to recruit and retain diverse, skilled workforces nationwide.
The UCLA Labor Center creates innovative programs that offer a range of educational, research, and public service activities within the university and in the broader community, especially among low-wage and immigrant workers. The Labor Center is a vital resource for research, education, and policy development to help create jobs that are good for workers and their communities, to improve the quality of existing jobs in the low-wage economy, and to strengthen the process of immigrant integration, especially among students and youth. Learn more.
LOSH collaborates with workers, unions, community organizations, employers, academics, students, governmental representatives, and health professionals to improve health and safety conditions for workers in Southern California. Initiatives include health and safety training, education for low-income, minority, and immigrant workers, public advocacy, and participation in industry-wide research relating to policy issues in California. Learn more.
The Labor Studies major and minor offer UCLA undergraduates an opportunity to learn about the workplace and the social, political, and economic forces that influence it. Learn more.
UCLA Strategic Research Lab
Through workshops, conferences, research, data analytics training camps, and social events, the UCLA Strategic Research Lab (SRL) is a capacity-building training hub and network for researchers from labor and community-based organizations. As a research unit of a public university, the SRL seeks to train strategic researchers for the common good. Learn more.
HARRT at UCLA is an organization of Senior Human Resources Executives from leading corporate, non-profit and public organizations that is dedicated to the advancement of human resources management through a partnership with prominent academics and thought leaders. Learn more.
