Ithaca Cornell Campus at dusk

ILR Hosts Conference on Transition to EVs

Outreach

The ILR School hosted a two-day conference that explored labor and the transition to electric vehicles. Organized in part by Ian Greer, director of the Ithaca Co-Lab, Professor Harry Katz and Art Wheaton, director of labor studies, the conference and its 35 attendees aimed to develop a global understanding of the EV shift and its consequences for workers.

Ian Greer leading a panel discussion at the ILERA conference on the transition to electric vehicles.
Read More

Many in Tompkins County Do Not Earn a Living Wage: ILR Researchers

The 2025 living wage for a single adult living alone in Tompkins County is $24.82 per hour, but almost half of the county’s 48,894 wage earners earn less than that, according to ILR School researchers.
A calculator, cash and budget journal on a table.
Many in Tompkins County Do Not Earn a Living Wage: ILR Researchers

Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

TCAT workers discuss the importance of their role in people’s lives. Amidst contract negotiations, they highlight staff shortages, overtime and burnout. They also mention wages and cost of living in Ithaca. Riley Xian and Jenna Lea, students in the Ithaca Co-Lab at the Cornell ILR School, produced this video.
Icon
Accessibility text goes here and is required
Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

Minimum Wage Increase Yields Positives: Report

Increasing the Tompkins County minimum wage of $16.61 to a living wage would increase earnings for thousands of workers and reduce racial and gender disparities, according to a new Ithaca Co-Lab report.
Money in the back pocket of a pair of jeans
Minimum Wage Increase Yields Positives: Report

Dashboard Details Surge in NYS Eviction Filings

Cornell Chronicle
As part of its on-going public impact mission and “data democratization” initiative, the Buffalo Co-Lab has launched the Cornell ILR Eviction Filings Dashboard for New York, a tool designed to help citizens, policymakers and nonprofits more easily visualize where eviction filings have occurred since 2018.
An eviction notice hangs on a door.
Dashboard Details Surge in NYS Eviction Filings

Quality Jobs Sought for the Unemployed

"Good Jobs For All?" summit brought together advocates working on behalf of unemployed people in Ithaca area.
Althea Brennan ’23
Quality Jobs Sought for the Unemployed

Living Wage Study Reveals Racial Disparities

Ian Greer, Ithaca Co-Lab director and other ILR researchers have found that living wage legislation would have a dramatic impact on the earnings of many Black workers in Tompkins County.
A graphic showing how living wage connects to basic needs
Living Wage Study Reveals Racial Disparities

In the News

Media Mentions

Tompkins County to hold public session discussing raising minimum wage

WBNG
When Tompkins County’s new Minimum Wage Study, which was conducted in part by ILR’s Ithaca Co-Lab, is released later this month, it is expected to have information about the cost of living in the county.
Tompkins County to hold public session discussing raising minimum wage

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

Public library workers finally have a new union contract

The Ithaca Voice
Wage adjustments in the newly ratified contract for Tompkins Country Public Library workers were guided by the “Tompkins County Living Wage Study,” which was co-developed by ILR’s Buffalo Co-Lab and Ithaca Co-Lab and estimates the Tompkins County living wage for a single adult without children at $25.08 per hour.
Public library workers finally have a new union contract