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World-class researchers, from a variety of disciplines, work here at the ILR School. Through the Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW), we support research that solves practical problems, improves the lives of workers and informs policy-making.

We serve as an incubator for applied research. We provide funding and coordination for innovative projects and initiatives. Our network of affiliated faculty, researchers, and practitioners help guide and facilitate novel approaches to advancing how we work.

Our membership includes programs and initiatives that study work and endeavor to improve the world for workers and their families, employers, and communities.

Employment and Work In New York State

Empire State Poll

Every year researchers at the Cornell School of Industrial Labor Relations conduct the Empire State Poll to survey New York state residents about how work impacts their lives. 

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Empire State Poll

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer the "future of work." It has arrived and having very real implications for work, labor and employment throughout the U.S. and globally. Yet, much is still unknown about how it is being deployed and where it can provide unique opportunities for businesses and workers.

CAROW is collaborating with ILR faculty, member institutes, and grantees to highlight research utilizing and evaluating the impact of artificial intelligence on work.

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The CAROW Care Economy & Work Hub

Growing demand for childcare and home care in the US is reaching crisis levels. Although crucial to the economy, care workers are often invisible, undervalued, and marginalized. The majority of care workers in the US are women of color, many of whom are immigrants, who face poor and precarious working conditions and low wages.

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CAROW Events

CAROW Stories

News, events and articles

AI and the New Informality

GLI Fellows Sarah Krasley and Maria Mexi announce a new AI impacts project: What happens when workers remain employed, but their autonomy narrows day to day? When organizational accountability becomes blurred, professional recognition declines, and the protections that once made employment meaningful begin to thin out?
Illustrations of six data workers, working at computers in isolation from each other. Painted background includes hazy image of cubicles; digital overlay of glass fractures.
AI and the New Informality

"These attacks are serious, but so are we": ILR's Worker Institute Hosts Third Care Convening

On June 5th and 6th, Cornell ILR’s Worker Institute hosted its third Future of Care Work Convening in New York City.
Group of approximately 50 people posing for a group shot and smiling
"These attacks are serious, but so are we": ILR's Worker Institute Hosts Third Care Convening

Work-Life Balance & Disability: Care Needs

The Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability (YTI) and the Worker Institute are expanding how care workers and care recipients have traditionally been studied, to look at how they overlap and influence each other’s employability.
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Work-Life Balance & Disability: Care Needs
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Yang-Tan WorkABILITY Incubator

K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan

The K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan CAROW WorkABILITY Incubator funds and supports innovative research that drives positive change for people who work.

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Yang-Tan WorkABILITY Incubator

In the News

Media Mentions

Councilors don’t yet agree on who would enforce just-cause protections if adopted

The Ithaca Voice
An analysis of job terminations in 2020-2025 that were reported as unfair dismissals to the Tompkins County Workers Center – written by Ian Greer, director of ILR’s Ithaca Co-Lab and research professor – is referenced in this article.
Councilors don’t yet agree on who would enforce just-cause protections if adopted

Unions play key role in keeping direct care workers in the workforce, suggests study

MSN
This article about a study of direct care workers’ turnover rates mentions both Ariel Avgar, ILR professor and director of ILR’s Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW), and Madeline Sterling, director of CAROW’s Initiative on Home Care Work, as co-authors of the study’s paper.
Unions play key role in keeping direct care workers in the workforce, suggests study

The Looming Crisis in Home Health Care

The New Republic
“The workforce has just historically been under-recognized and under-appreciated,” said Madeline Sterling, a primary care doctor at Weill Cornell Medicine and director of the Initiative on Home Care Work, housed in ILR’s Center for Applied Research on Work, commenting on home health care workers.
The Looming Crisis in Home Health Care

Contact CAROW

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Contact CAROW

Get in touch

Center for Applied Research on Work

Cornell University, ILR School
Ithaca, NY 14853

Tel: (607) 255-4380
Email: carow@cornell.edu

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