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Major · Business

A bachelor’s pipeline into HR and labor-management roles

Labor and Industrial Relations (CIP 52.1002) prepares students for HR, compliance, and labor-management work. About 1,005 students complete it across 23 institutions — anchored by Cornell’s ILR School — with bachelor’s graduates earning around $68,886 in tracked five-year wages.

Schools offering
23
Annual completions
1,005
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$67k

About this major

Labor and Industrial Relations (CIP 52.1002) is a niche business and social-science major preparing students for HR, compliance, and labor-management work. The CIP definition organizes coursework around labor history, the policies and strategies of the labor movement, union organization, labor-management negotiation, labor law and contract interpretation, labor economics, welfare and benefit packages, grievance procedures, and labor policy studies. Programs typically blend economics, sociology, law, and management coursework, with case-based negotiation and arbitration work at the undergraduate level.

The major fits students drawn to the legal-economic side of work, comfortable with policy reading and case analysis, and interested in mediating between organizations and employees. It rewards careful contract reading, comfort with quantitative compensation analysis, and the patience to work through grievance procedures and arbitration. The career path runs from analyst-level HR or compliance roles into specialist work in labor relations, compensation, and benefits — with senior management positions typical at five to ten years of experience.

One grounded observation about scale and concentration: 1,005 students complete this CIP across only 23 institutions, with Cornell University’s ILR School alone producing 286 (roughly 28% of national output) and Empire State University adding 187. That concentration means employer recognition is centered on a small group of programs — Cornell, Rutgers, Penn State, Iowa, and Minnesota among them. Bachelor’s graduates earn $68,886 in tracked five-year wages, well above the associate’s figure of $54,291. Named labor-market destinations all sit at bachelor’s-degree entry: compliance officer ($78,420), HR manager ($140,030), labor relations specialist ($93,500), and compensation and benefits manager ($140,360).

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Compliance officers $78k +3.0% Bachelor's degree
Human resources managers $140k +5.0% Bachelor's degree
Business teachers, postsecondary $97k +5.7% Doctoral or professional degree
Labor relations specialists $94k -0.1% Bachelor's degree
Law teachers, postsecondary $127k +2.2% Doctoral or professional degree
Compensation and benefits managers $140k +0.2% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$67k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$54k

Bachelor's

$69k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you’re drawn to the negotiation table and the legal-economic side of work rather than to interpersonal HR alone, you can read a collective-bargaining agreement closely and find the points of leverage, you’re comfortable with both case-method analysis and quantitative compensation work, you’re strategically minded about getting into a recognized program (Cornell ILR, Rutgers, Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota) since the credential is concentrated among a handful of schools, and you can plan for the higher-paying management roles to arrive at five to ten years of experience rather than entry. Bachelor’s graduates in this packet earn $68,886 in tracked five-year wages, well above the associate’s figure.

Think twice if you’re aiming at the labor relations specialist title specifically — that role shows -0.1% projected growth as private-sector unionization continues its long decline, and most graduates pivot toward broader HR or compliance work where growth is positive. Reconsider if your school options are limited to programs outside the small group of recognized ILR schools, since the credential’s pull comes partly from employer name recognition. The HR Management, General CIP (52.1001) at 6,907 completions is far more widely offered and covers similar ground; pick that broader path if your nearest options are general HR programs and you don’t need the labor-relations specialization.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Labor and Industrial Relations

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Cornell University Ithaca, NY 0 286 286
Empire State University Saratoga Springs, NY 161 26 187
University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 0 142 142
Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ 0 121 121
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA 0 76 76
Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA 9 59 68
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 0 30 30
Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ 0 27 27
Cleveland State University Cleveland, OH 0 22 22
University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras San Juan, PR 0 11 11
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General

6,907 completions/yr

Organizational Leadership

4,923 completions/yr

Organizational Behavior Studies

1,821 completions/yr

Insurance

906 completions/yr

Human Resources Development

463 completions/yr

Human Resources Management and Services, Other

289 completions/yr

Labor Studies

70 completions/yr

Dispute Resolution

2 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Labor and Industrial Relations field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Labor and Industrial Relations worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Labor and Industrial Relations majors actually study?
The CIP definition organizes coursework around labor history, the policies and strategies of the labor movement, union organization and labor-management negotiation, labor law and contract interpretation, labor economics, welfare and benefit packages, grievance procedures, and labor policy. Programs blend social-science and business approaches to employee-management interaction, with case-based negotiation and arbitration coursework typical at the undergraduate level.
What jobs do graduates land — and at what pay?
Common destinations include compliance officer ($78,420, 3% growth), HR manager ($140,030, 5% growth), labor relations specialist ($93,500, -0.1% growth), and compensation and benefits manager ($140,360). All four list a bachelor’s degree as typical entry. Bachelor’s graduates in this packet earn $68,886 in five-year tracked wages, with the higher-paying management roles typically reached at five to ten years of experience rather than entry.
Is Cornell’s ILR School really the dominant program?
Yes. Cornell ILR alone produces 286 graduates — roughly 28% of national completions in this CIP — and Empire State University adds another 187. The remaining 21 institutions in the data combine for fewer than 600 completions. That concentration matters: this is a niche credential where employer name recognition centers on a handful of programs (Cornell, Rutgers, Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota), and the brand may carry weight in HR and labor-relations recruiting.
How does this compare to HR Management, General?
Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General (CIP 52.1001) is the much larger HR pathway at 6,907 completions — roughly seven times this major. The general HR degree is more widely available and covers staffing, training, compensation, and HR operations. Labor and Industrial Relations narrows in on the union, collective-bargaining, and labor-law side. Choose this CIP if you’re drawn to negotiation, labor policy, and the legal-economic side of work; choose 52.1001 if you want broader HR generalist preparation.
Do I need a graduate degree for the higher-paying roles?
Not for the named bachelor’s-track roles. Compliance officer, HR manager, labor relations specialist, and comp/benefits manager all list a bachelor’s as typical entry. A master’s in HR or industrial relations and the SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP certifications can accelerate promotion into senior management. The two highest-paying lines in the packet — business teachers ($97,270) and law teachers ($126,650) — require doctoral or professional degrees and are graduate-school-only paths.
Is the labor relations specialist track a good bet given negative growth?
Labor relations specialist shows -0.1% projected growth — flat to slightly declining — reflecting long-term decline in private-sector unionization. Most bachelor’s grads in this CIP move into broader HR or compliance roles instead, where growth is positive (3-5%). Public-sector and education-sector unions remain employers; specialized labor-relations work in those settings holds up better than private-sector. Keep the major credential, but plan for HR-generalist or compliance flexibility in the job search.