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Built for the future of work

80 years of pioneering research, education, and real-world impact.

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Undergraduate Admissions

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.

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Professional Education

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

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Research at Risk

Susanne Bruyère and a small team of researchers started a project to identify barriers in the hiring process that prevent qualified autistic job seekers from getting jobs in STEM fields. The results would have helped employers identify ways to streamline hiring autistic individuals and to support them in the workplace after hiring.

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ILR School Events

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Labor Economics Workshop: Lisa Kahn

Lisa Kahn | University of Rochester Do Workforce Development Programs Bridge the Skills Gap? Abstract: Most U.S. states have workforce development programs that offer firms grants to train their own workers. We create unique data linkages between participating firms, employment, and vacancies to explore the determinants and consequences of such programs. Training grants are more prevalent in markets where firms face greater employee poaching risk, suggesting these programs help overcome a market failure in updating worker skills. After training, firms experience prolonged employment growth and downskilling in their job posts, relative to a matched control group. Training appears to help firms move toward optimal scale and expand opportunities for less skilled workers.

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Labor Economics Workshop: Lisa Kahn

Status: What Is It? Why Does It Matter For Race And Gender Inequality?

Please join us for the Alice Cook-Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture. Our honored speaker is Cecilia Ridgeway, M.A. ’69, Ph.D. ’72, the Lucie Stern Professor of Social Sciences, Emerita, in the Sociology Department at Stanford University.
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Status: What Is It? Why Does It Matter For Race And Gender Inequality?

Labor Economics Workshop: David Titus

David Titus Immigration Policies and Human Capital: The Impact on Undocumented College Attendance Abstract: I estimate the impact of Universal E-Verify laws on the college attendance of undocumented Hispanics in the United States. I do so by implementing a series of event studies that account for staggered adoption across time, and I use a random forest algorithm as my primary approach for predicting undocumented status. My results indicate that Universal E-Verify laws lower the college attendance of undocumented Hispanics ages 18-24 by about 3.7 percentage points. This is a large effect, as I find that only 15.7 percent of undocumented Hispanics ages 18-24 in treated states were enrolled in college following the passage of the laws. This effect is robust to using logical imputation on non-citizen Hispanics to proxy undocumented immigrants, using a logit model instead of random forest, testing for migration spillover effects to bordering states, and considering potentially confounding impacts of other state-level policies. I explore potential mechanisms by developing a model explaining avenues through which Universal E-Verify can affect college education, and I test this model’s implications. I find suggestive evidence that the effect is driven by a negative labor market shock on undocumented adults ages 25-54, which likely leads to worse schooling for their children and renders college less attainable. These findings reveal that employment restrictions on working-age undocumented adults harm the human capital accumulation of undocumented children.

Localist event image for Labor Economics Workshop: David Titus
Labor Economics Workshop: David Titus

Exploring ILR Career Pathways: Law

The ILR School’s interdisciplinary curriculum gives students the freedom to explore many interests, and law is one of the most popular. Approximately 23%-25% of ILR undergraduates pursue law school within five years of graduating, with many applying to law school in two to three years after graduation.

ILR alumni work in many areas of the law, including tech, health care, immigration, transportation, natural resources and criminal defense, while others who earn a law degree, forgo practicing law and instead thrive in business, finance, the entertainment industry or as leaders of professional sports organizations.

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The statue Contemplation of Justice by sculptor James Earle Fraser stands on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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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

Get To Know: Paul Ortiz

Faculty Spotlight

Paul Ortiz, a professor in the Department of Global Labor and Work, joined the ILR faculty in the fall of 2024 after 15 years in the history department at the University of Florida.

Professor Paul Ortiz
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ILRies Change
the Future of Work.

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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.

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ILR in the News

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Essay Examines Why Boliva’s Most Popular Party Isn’t on the Oct. 19 Ballot

An ILR professor compresses decades of history into a short essay that analyzes the rise and fall of Bolivia’s MAS party.
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Essay Examines Why Boliva’s Most Popular Party Isn’t on the Oct. 19 Ballot

Patricia Campos-Medina to be Honored as Changemaker Champion

The YWCA will recognize Campos-Medina for bold leadership that drives equity and opportunity for women and communities.
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Patricia Campos-Medina to be Honored as Changemaker Champion

Two Grants to Study AI and Worker Voice Awarded to ILR

AI is causing a major shift in today’s workplace and raising many concerns. Two new grants will fund ILR research aimed at providing insights to policymakers, union leaders, managers and others who are shaping the future of AI in the workplace.
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Two Grants to Study AI and Worker Voice Awarded to ILR

ILR at 80: An Audacious Idea, Humble Beginnings, Worldwide Legacy

Since its opening in November 1945, the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations has had an outsized impact on unions, corporations, governments and non-profit organizations in New York  state and around the world.
An ILR 80th Anniversary banner hanging in Golden Courtyard
ILR at 80: An Audacious Idea, Humble Beginnings, Worldwide Legacy

Campus Life

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

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Did you know that the ILR School is the only undergraduate college at Cornell with its own Student Government Association (SGA)? SGA strives to build community within the ILR School and hosts many special events! Current President of SGA, Marco Martini ‘27, says that “I joined the ILR Student…

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Save the date for our upcoming Cook-Gray Lecture! 🗓️ Cecilia L. Ridgeway, M.S. ’69, Ph.D. ’72, Stanford University’s Lucie Stern Professor of Social Sciences, Emerita, will deliver the annual Alice Cook–Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture on October 23. Professor Ridgeway studies how interpersonal…

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Welcome back from Fall Break 🍁

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Happy Fall Break! 🍂 The Cornell Campus-to-Campus bus service offers nonstop service every day between Ithaca and New York City. Amenities on the bus include reclining seats, power outlets, wireless internet, and more! 🚌 Have you ever ridden the Cornell Campus-to-Campus bus?

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Thanks to ILR alum Richard “Dick” Fincher ’73, ILR students have been learning about alternative dispute resolution both on @cornelluniversity campus and on-location in Vietnam and at the Hopi and Navajo nations in Arizona. Fincher, who has been instrumental in creating and teaching the Vietnam…

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This past weekend, ILRies celebrated Homecoming Weekend, connecting with past and present students and enjoying Big Red Sports games 🐻

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