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2025-26 NY at Work Report

The 2025-26 New York at Work report draws on ILR expertise, research-based data and policy analysis on a broad range of key issues affecting the state’s workers, unions, communities and employers.

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New York State

Economy, Policy, and Practice

Read about our work in New York State

As a New York land-grant college, we have a state mandate to apply our work in service to our local communities, state and regional economies, and partners in governance. We create and share knowledge, build relationships, and inform strategies aimed at improving economic well-being for all New Yorkers. Coupling our strong physical foundations in Buffalo, Ithaca and New York City, our resources and infrastructure allow us to pursue local innovations that have global implications.

Justice at Work: Belonging

See more justice at work and belonging

Reducing Interview Anxiety for Autistic Applicants

Cornell Chronicle
YTI research shows that to reduce the challenges of job searching, autistic applicants should rehearse socially appropriate responses and practice answering interview questions about teamwork with examples from previous experiences.
An illustration of a young man climbing stairs. Courtesy of Laila Milevski/Cornell University
Reducing Interview Anxiety for Autistic Applicants

How Older Adults Are Getting Home Care

Dr. Madeline Sterling discusses long-term care for older adults and highlights that most prefer to age at home. She discusses existing gaps in the healthcare system, including underfunded services and geographic differences, and she emphasizes that telehealth and AI can be leveraged with support from better infrastructure and ongoing research.
social-worker-taking-care-old-woman
How Older Adults Are Getting Home Care

Relentless Advocate Bridges Research, Policy and Practice

Scientific inquiry, practical solutions and pioneering strategies led by Susanne Bruyère have changed work cultures around the world to include more people with disabilities.
Susanne Bruyère
Relentless Advocate Bridges Research, Policy and Practice

Equitable Access to Work

Read about equitable access to work

A driving principle behind our research, teaching, training and practice is that everyone deserves fair and equal access to jobs, housing, healthcare and other means for achieving economic security. Our work seeks solutions that remove inequitable barriers to economic opportunities, whether in an individual workplace or at the structural levels of our political and economic systems.

Cooling Investments in Apparel Factories Can Pay for Themselves

Investing in cooling for Bangladesh’s apparel factories can be commercially viable, with an average payback period of one to four years, according to new research from Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.
A southasian woman standing looking at camera
Cooling Investments in Apparel Factories Can Pay for Themselves

Thinking Big about Healthcare: Preventing Profiteering and Improving Jobs

Improving the U.S. healthcare system for patients and workers is the focus of a recent ILR policy paper.
Cartoon-style people sharing ideas about healthcare
Thinking Big about Healthcare: Preventing Profiteering and Improving Jobs

Disability Compounds Employment Woes for People with Criminal Records, and Vice Versa

Cornell Chronicle
Justice-impacted individuals with disabilities are considerably less likely to be employed than people with disabilities who have not interacted with the criminal justice system, according to Yang-Tan Institute research.
Image of a job application form that has been stamped as rejected
Disability Compounds Employment Woes for People with Criminal Records, and Vice Versa

Collective Representation and Worker Voice

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We were founded to study and improve the world of work, with strong research roots in labor relations and negotiations. Working with varying communities, we are committed to understanding collective representation, the perspectives of workers, and improving the lives of workers.

New Paper Explores Black Workers in the South and Their Views on Unions

Black workers in the Southeast face numerous challenges, but they also believe unions could alleviate some of these issues, according to a working paper co-authored by Kate Bronfenbrenner, Ph.D. ’93, director of Labor Education Research at the ILR School.
Male African American Engineer is working in a welding production line while adjusting the accuracy of welding assembly jig auto parts in a industry shop floor.
New Paper Explores Black Workers in the South and Their Views on Unions

ILR, Unions Offer NYC Construction Workers Innovative Emotional First Aid

Cornell Chronicle
The ILR School’s Worker Institute and unions have launched an innovative peer support initiative to destigmatize mental health and reduce suicide in New York City’s construction industry.
Arianna Schindle (left) and Jeff Grabelsky (right) of the ILR School’s Worker Institute talk with Paul Schwan (center), a member of the Ornamental and Architectural Ironworkers Union Local 361 and an instructor in the peer supporter program.
ILR, Unions Offer NYC Construction Workers Innovative Emotional First Aid

How Can Unions Negotiate AI in the Workplace? Lessons from the Port Sector

The Dockers' AI Toolkit by José Luis Gallegos provides guidance on how workers can negotiate over artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. Although the toolkit is grounded in the port sector, its lessons extend far beyond dock work.
A human hand and robot hand
How Can Unions Negotiate AI in the Workplace? Lessons from the Port Sector

Leadership Development

We work with communities, organizations, departments and companies – all to help develop leaders who will make workplaces and employment itself better. Foundations in management and collective bargaining, and our 75 years in industry put us in a unique position to help develop leaders in business, labor and policy.

CAHRS

Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies

CAHRS is the world's leading partnership between industry and academia, devoted to global human resource management. The CAHRS partnership connects leading companies to Cornell University, the ILR School, and leading faculty, students and intellectual leaders throughout the world.

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Visit CAHRS

Labor Leadership Training

We work with union leaders at national and state levels to develop training programs for aspiring and established leaders within the labor field.

Explore labor leadership programs

Senior Leader Programs

We bring together world-class faculty with business and industry leaders to design and deliver training systems that develop HR, business and management leaders. Learn from world-class faculty dedicated to HR research and driving organizational performance.

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Find out more about our senior leadership training

Suicide Prevention and Mental Health in the Workplace

Suicide prevention at work, with tips for colleagues and supervisors, was discussed in a research-backed webinar by the Employer Assistance Resource Network on Disability (EARN), which is housed at ILR’s Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability. A recording of the webinar is available.
Coffee break
Suicide Prevention and Mental Health in the Workplace

From Training to Transformation: Preparing and Celebrating NYC’s Next Generation of Clean Energy Workers

The Climate Jobs Institute hosted a two-day train-the-trainer program for workforce partners, followed by a graduation ceremony celebrating 49 Pathways to Apprenticeship participants. The events highlighted a growing clean energy workforce pipeline, connecting instructor development with hands-on training and honoring graduates entering careers in New York City’s expanding green economy.
P2A Graduation Ceremony
From Training to Transformation: Preparing and Celebrating NYC’s Next Generation of Clean Energy Workers

CJI Organizes Empire State Plaza Decarbonization Tour

The Climate Jobs Institute partnered with OGS and NYPA to host a legislative discussion and tour of the Empire State Plaza decarbonization project. The initiative aims to cut emissions, modernize heating and cooling, and demonstrate how New York can lead in public-sector decarbonization and high-quality job creation.
Empire State Plaza Decarbonization Tour
CJI Organizes Empire State Plaza Decarbonization Tour

ILR in the News

Our work from the media

See more ILR news coverage

Podcast: Who pays for fashion's heat crisis?

Ecotextile News
“Factories and industries need to develop and enforce protocols for high heat,” said Jason Judd, executive director of ILR’s Global Labor Institute, in this podcast interview focusing on the institute’s recent report, “Six Seasons, Four Summers: How to Solve Fashion’s High Heat Problem.”
Podcast: Who pays for fashion's heat crisis?

Unions split over data centers, AI

Axios
“You aren’t going to get all the unions to agree. One loses, the other might gain,” says Art Wheaton, ILR director of labor studies, commenting on varied perspectives within labor unions on supporting AI.
Unions split over data centers, AI

Mass Worker Education: Governing From the Shop Floor

New Labor Forum
This article describes the Worker Institute’s We Rise Nanny Training program as a “peer education program centering around rights awareness, workforce development, and organization skills” that has trained hundreds of nannies, cleaners and home health aides, and other workers.
Mass Worker Education: Governing From the Shop Floor