Columbia University Labor Lab

Columbia Labor Lab leverages the tools of social science to understand and strengthen efforts to rebuild the economic and political power of workers.

We work in partnership with unions and worker associations, affording us access to unique data and providing us opportunities to directly test the implications that follow from our work. With our partners, we directly apply state-of-the-art research methods in the social sciences: large-scale surveys, interviews, field experimental designs, administrative data linking and analysis, and machine learning.

Ongoing partnerships

RCT: Healthcare Union Campaign

In partnership with a healthcare labor union, we are evaluating the causal impact of a multi-year labor organizing campaign on health and labor market outcomes.

Predictive Modeling: Member Engagement

In collaboration with SEIU Local 32BJ, we analyzed membership data to fit a statistical model of member engagement and leadership, such as strike captain.

Impact of Union Apprenticeship after Prison

We are designing a multi-year randomized controlled trial to evaluate the causal impact of the Pathways to Apprenticeship (P2A) program, a pre-apprenticeship initiative designed to connect formerly incarcerated individuals with union jobs in construction.