Past Events

We study the role of union heterogeneity in shaping wages and inequality among unionized workers. Using linked employer-employee data from Brazil and job moves across multi-firm unions, we estimate over 4,800 union-specific pay premia. Unions explain 3–4% of earnings variation. While unions raise wages on average, the standard deviation in union effects is large (6-7%). Validating our approach, wages fall in markets with higher vs. lower union premia following a nationwide right-to-work law. Linking premia to detailed data on union attributes, we find that unions with strike activity, collective bargaining agreements, internal competition, and skilled leaders secure higher wages. High-premium unions compress wage gaps by education while the average union exacerbates them. Post right-to-work, however, worker support for high-premium unions falls when between-group bargaining differentials are large. Our findings show that unions are not a monolith—their structure and actions shape their wage effects and, consequently, worker support.

Interested in learning about pathways and careers related to earning a PhD? Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) is hosting a virtual open house this Monday, October 27th! Join us to learn about our Human Resource Management concentration, careers in academia, and the admissions process.

Join us on campus at Rutgers for an Open House to learn about the major/minor in Human Resource Management (HRM) and the master's program (MHRM), along with HRM Honors and Study Abroad options!

We welcome SMLR students from every background to join us for our Diwali party! Let’s celebrate the festival of lights together with free food, activities & a fashion show!

The paper deals with the regulatory gaps that resulted in devastating and scandalizing wages and working conditions in the German meat industry for more than two decades.

The School of Management & Labor Relations is hosting a Fall 2025 Networking & Recruiting Event! Explore exciting jobs, internships, or just practice networking with recruiters? We encourage all SMLR undergraduate and graduate students, and alums to attend this event! Come meet with employers to learn about opportunities at these various organizations.

This talk introduces an important theory in evolutionary biology: the r/K strategy theory.

Please join us to learn more about the IBM HR Internship Program from the professionals themselves. This session will offer an inside view of HR at IBM while giving you the opportunity to ask your most pressing questions about our intern program.

Organizations increasingly use algorithms to determine who gets hired, how workers are evaluated, and even who gets fired. To examine the implications of organizations’ use of algorithms in the labor process, I conducted a longitudinal study of one the largest digital labor platforms for high-skilled work. I found workers were confronted with and responded to the algorithms controlling them in ways that existing theory does not adequately account for. First, new workers engaged in practices which inadvertently contributed to suboptimal wages and inefficient job matching when then they encountered the “cold start” problem: the algorithm struggled to recommend new workers to jobs primarily because they had no prior rating history. Second, for experienced workers who obtain a rating evaluation, the platform's algorithms create what I call "reputational interdependence": the platform's algorithms share workers' rating scores within and across other digital platforms and organizations, without workers' consent or control. Together, I theorize how algorithms enable platforms to control high-skilled workers within an “invisible cage”: an environment in which organizations embed the rules and guidelines for how workers should behave in opaque algorithms that shift without providing notice, explanation, or recourse for workers. It is ‘invisible’ because organizations can use algorithms to change the rules and criteria for success at an unprecedented speed and scale without notice or explanation. It is a ‘cage’ because these algorithms increasingly control our opportunities without our say.

Join SMLR in-person at the Rutgers-New Brunswick Fall Career & Internship Mega Fair at Jersey Mike's Arena on our Livingston Campus. An anticipated group of over 400 employers will be available to network with 7,000+ candidates to discuss full-time, part-time, and internship opportunities in various fields.