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The Labor Dynamics Institute goals are trifold. We study and improve labor market outcomes of workers; more generally we improve access to and understanding of data sources for the study of the labor market; and improve the transparency and accessibility of economics research to enhance its credibility.

Employment Opportunities

Work with LDI

LDI designs many of its projects to include Cornell graduate and undergraduate students. We hire a number of times a year. Interested?

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Future of Work: Research focuses

We investigate effective labor market outcomes for workers. Current projects feature creating, maintaining, and enhancing job search tools with the goal of observing outcomes of such interventions for workers. We are building collaborations with Computer and Data Scientists at both faculty and student level to enhance research into this field. We have examined existing online platforms to understand features and how employers use them. We also advocate advancing changes in employer records at the federal level to enable measurement of outcomes not previously possible..

We seek to improve access to data at multiple levels. Our leadership and affiliates serve on National Academies panels and committees at government agencies in the United States and Canada that are tasked with enabling easier and enhanced access to comprehensive confidential administrative data for research. Our affiliate Erica Groshen is a leading advocate for a U.S. "21st Century National Data Infrastructure." Better data access contributes to our other goals. It enables more comprehensive scrutiny of academic research when data cannot be published, supporting integrity even where transparency is limited.

We house leading practice and research to make economics more transparent and reproducible. LDI's Reproducibility Lab conducts reproducibility verifications for American Economic Association's Data Editor. We coordinate and share expertise with colleagues in economics, sociology, political science, program evaluation, demography, and computer science at Cornell and elsewhere to improve infrastructure, methods, and standards. Our projects also pursue development of new standards and tools to enhance transparency. 

Latest News

Abowd, Vilhuber Win 2026 PET Award

John Abowd, professor emeritus of economics, statistics, and data science at Cornell and Lars Vilhuber, research professor and executive director of ILR’s Labor Dynamics Institute, have received the 2026 Caspar Bowden PET Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies.
John Abowd poses with the 2026 Caspar Bowden PET Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies
Abowd, Vilhuber Win 2026 PET Award

Groshen Named Statistical Advocate of the Year

For her transformative role in conveying the importance of high-quality federal statistics to legislators, journalists and the public, Erica Groshen, senior economics advisor, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Harry V. Roberts Statistical Advocate of the Year Award, presented by the American Statistical Association.
Erica Groshen
Groshen Named Statistical Advocate of the Year

“Labor in New York in 2026” Presented in Albany

Experts from the ILR School met with Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson, New York State Chairs of the Committee on Labor, to discuss the current state of labor in New York.
Esta Bigler presents to Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson in Albany.
“Labor in New York in 2026” Presented in Albany

Five Faculty Members Honored

Professors Emeritus John M. Abowd, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Tove Helland Hammer, Robert Hutchens and William J. Sonnenstuhl were lauded at a retirement celebration Monday.
Faculty wing of ILR's Ives Hall
Five Faculty Members Honored

In the News

Media Mentions

SCOTUS’ Narrow Protection of the Fed Means Cook, and Fed Independence, Still at Risk

Talking Points Memo
In light of a recent Supreme Court decision, Erica Groshen, ILR senior labor market advisor and former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, comments on likely changes to employment criteria for leadership at federal agencies, such as Bureau of Labor Statistics, and how that might make those jobs less attractive.
SCOTUS’ Narrow Protection of the Fed Means Cook, and Fed Independence, Still at Risk

A Trump push to cut 'statistical noise' could mean less data from the Census Bureau

NPR
“The only confidentiality protection available is coarsening. It is guaranteed to reduce the level of detail drastically,” said John Abowd, ILR emeritus professor and former chief scientist at the Census Bureau, discussing the impact of the Trump administration’s ban of a privacy technique called “noise infusion.”
A Trump push to cut 'statistical noise' could mean less data from the Census Bureau

Data: you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Financial Times
Erica Groshen, ILR senior labor market advisor, co-authored a working paper assessing the economic impact of undermining official statistics.
Data: you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone