iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

SSRP applications are now open! Social Sciences Research Pathways is a yearlong paid research development program that connects @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social undergrads with grad student mentors to conduct hands-on research. Learn more and apply: irle.berkeley.edu/student-opportuni…

A roomful of students sit in the a conference room smiling toward the camera

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Featuring research from Manisha Shah, Nicole Fortin, Bang Nguyen, @neumarkecon.bsky.social, Pedro Martins, Kourtney Koebel, Yana Gallen, @marcogpalladino.bsky.social, Jason Sockin, @paolosantini.bsky.social, Peter Dolton, and Aruna Ranganathan

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Register today: The Gender Wage Gap Conference, Sept 17 and 18 at IRLE This in-person conference features research examining reasons for gender wage gaps around the world and policy responses to them. #EconSky

The Gender Wage Gap
Special Issue Conference

Featuring research from Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society

Thu, Sept 17 and Fri, Sept 18
IRLE Conference Room
2521 Channing Way, Berkeley

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

They analyze mobile device location data that tracks the # of workers at every restaurant location in the US to measure employment at the establishment level over time and compare restaurants covered by the policy to those that were not. The results? No evidence of negative employment effects.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Building on earlier research, the authors find the policy significantly increased worker pay, led to modest price increases, and did not reduce employment in the fast food sector.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Exactly two years after the minimum wage policy took effect, the study offers the most comprehensive analysis to date of its impacts on wages, employment, and prices.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Effects of a $20 Minimum Wage: The latest from Michael Reich and @dsosinskiy.bsky.social on California’s landmark $20 fast food minimum wage provides some of the strongest evidence yet that substantial wage increases can improve worker earnings without reducing employment. #EconSky

Effects of a $20 Minimum Wage: Evidence from Granular
Data on Wages, Employment and Prices

DENIS SOSINSKIY, University of California, Berkeley
MICHAEL REICH, University of California, Berkeley
April 1, 2026

Abstract
On April 1, 2024, California implemented a $20 hourly wage floor for workers in large chains in fast food restaurants and snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars. The new standard, which corresponds to 69 percent of the state’s median full-time wage, surpasses all prior benchmarks in minimum wage policies and research. We use difference-in-differences (DiD) and triple difference (DDD) event study methods and granular data that permit distinguishing trends affecting the entire industry from those caused by the new minimum wage policy. Our granular pay data come from Glassdoor job postings and Square payroll data, granular mobility-based employment data from Advan, and
granular prices scraped from over 2,000 restaurants in California and control states.

We find that the policy increased average weekly wages for covered fast food workers by about 11 percent and did not reduce employment. Compared to controls, prices increased by 1.5 percent, equivalent to 6 cents for a $4 item. Employers passed about 50 percent of the higher wage costs to consumers as higher prices, consistent with a monopsony model.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Can economic policy make life more affordable? Join us next Wednesday for a special seminar with @jaredb-econ.bsky.social, @lauradtyson.bsky.social, @jrothst.bsky.social and Michael Reich. Event details: irle.berkeley.edu/event/can-ec...

Special Seminar. Can Economic Policy Make Life More Affordable? Jared Bernstein, former chair, Biden administration’s Council of Economic Advisers

Discussants: Jesse Rothstein (Public Policy, Economics) and Laura Tyson (Haas)

Moderated by Michael Reich (CWED). Wednesday, March 11
4:00–5:30 PM
IRLE Conference Room
2521 Channing Way

irle.berkeley.edu/events. Numerous polls show widespread dissatisfaction with the U.S. economy and, by extension, with both major political parties. In response, Democrats and Republicans are advancing competing approaches to make the economy more affordable.

Can either approach succeed?

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Miranda Dietz @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social explains why it's a problem that 1 in 3 new Covered California enrollees chose the cheapest, highest deductible health plans in the the latest from @ab-ibarra.bsky.social @calmatters.org Read the article: calmatters.org/health/2026/...

Those out-of-pocket costs do impact people's decisions to get care, so that's worrisome as well. Miranda Dietz, Health Care Program Director, UC Berkeley Labor Center.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Check out our monthly newsletter for upcoming events, job and research funding opportunities, and the latest research from our centers. 🗞️ Read this month's edition: us17.campaign-archive.com?u=1af5855024... 🔗 Subscribe: irle.berkeley.edu/newsletter-s...

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IRLE News: Upcoming events, job opportunities, and new research

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Reposted by UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE)

UC Berkeley Labor Center @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Lisa Kresge: “There is a concerted effort among many tech leaders to create mystification around AI as a tactic...to disempower workers, policymakers & anyone who might be critical of the growing concentration of funding & resources.” @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

theguardian.com

How the anxiety over AI could fuel a new workers’ movement

New technology has workers spooked, but experts say it’s creating an opening for a resurgence in worker power

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Students, if you... 🔹 believe all workers in deserve to work and live in dignity 🔹 want to learn how to build worker and community power ...then @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social's paid Labor Summer internship is for you! Learn more and apply by Feb 21: laborcenter.berkeley.edu/labor-summer...

laborcenter.berkeley.edu

Labor Summer Internship

Labor Summer is a full-time, PAID, intensive eight-week educational internship program. Students learn from and work with labor and community organizations in Northern and Central California, applying...

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

The @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social is hiring a health care policy researcher. Join a high-impact team at the forefront of research on the most pressing economic challenges affecting working families in California and across the country. Learn more and apply: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05275

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

Policy Researcher/Senior Policy Researcher, Health Care Program (Associate/Full Specialist) - UC Berkeley Labor Center

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Danielle Mahones @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social breaks down why educators across California are striking for fully funded classrooms, appropriate staffing, access to quality healthcare, and more in the latest from @kqednews.kqed.org Listen and read: www.kqed.org/news/1207316...

They are organizing together across districts with parents and students to demand the schools that every California student deserves. Danielle Mahones, UC Berkeley Labor center, on the wage of CA teacher strikes

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Great job alert! @capolicylab.bsky.social is hiring a labor economics researcher for a remote or hybrid (LA) role. Design and conduct policy-relevant research in partnership with state and local agencies in California. Learn more and please share widely: capolicylab.org/careers/rese... #Econsky

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Join us on Feb 11: @drodrik.bsky.social, Michael Reich, Jennifer Harris, & Paul Pierson @besiberkeley.bsky.social discuss the unraveling of neoliberal economic policy, emerging agendas to address Americans’ unmet needs, and the politics that could make them real. irle.berkeley.edu/events/econo...

Economic Policy Agendas to Rebuild America, with Dani Rodrik (Harvard), Michael Reich (Berkeley), Jennifer Harris (Hewlett), and Paul Pierson (berkeley. Sponsored by IRLE and BESI

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Check out our January newsletter for the latest IRLE events, research, and student opportunities. Read more: us17.campaign-archive.com?u=1af5855024... Subscribe: irle.berkeley.edu/newsletter-s...

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IRLE 2025 Impact Report and Upcoming Events

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

IRLE’s 2025 Impact Report Amid rapid social, political, and economic change, IRLE's mission remains constant: connecting world-class research with policy to improve workers’ lives and communities. Learn more: irle.berkeley.edu/about/impact...

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society invites submissions to a special issue examining reasons for gender wage gaps around the world and policy responses to them. Extended abstracts due April 3. Learn more: irle.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u...

Industrial Relations Call for Papers. Special Issue on the gender wage gap. Extended abstracts are due April 3, 2026.

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Reposted by UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE)

Alex Bryson @alexbryson.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Here's a preview of our last edition of the year. Eight papers ranging from the impact of occupational licensing on retirement through to trust in the workplace. Check it out. @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social @sriucl.bsky.social

Here's a preview of our final IR Berkeley of the year out soon. Eight papers covering issues from the impact of occupational licensing on retirement through to workforce composition and its effect on trust at the workplace.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Are you a union negotiator, researcher, policymaker, or journalist tracking how digital tech is used at work--and how unions are responding? Explore @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social's inventory of collective bargaining provisions related to workplace tech: laborcenter.berkeley.edu/negotiating-...

laborcenter.berkeley.edu

Negotiating tech

A searchable inventory of contract provisions from over 175 union agreements showing how collective bargaining has been used to address workplace technologies, protect worker rights, and shape technol...

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

📬 Our July newsletter is out now! Meet our research awardees and learn about upcoming student opportunities, fall events, and the latest research highlights from our centers. 🗞️ Read the newsletter: us17.campaign-archive.com?u=1af5855024... 🔗 Subscribe to stay connected: mailchi.mp/berkeley/irl...

lnkd.in

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Faculty research awardees: Enrico Moretti (Economics), Carlos Schmidt-Padilla (GSPP), Jennifer Skeem (GSPP), Laura (Layla) Kwong (Public Health), Trond Petersen (Sociology, and Alexandra Hill (ARE) Learn more the 2025 cohort: irle.berkeley.edu/faculty-reso...

irle.berkeley.edu

Faculty Research Awards – Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

IRLE supports rigorous interdisciplinary research projects on topics aligned with our mission: to understand the dynamics and policies affecting workers, workin

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

🏆 We’re thrilled to announce the recipients of our annual research awards. This year, we received an unprecedented number of applications. The 21 selected projects stood out for their potential for meaningful research insights. Join us in congratulating these exceptional Berkeley scholars.

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Reposted by UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE)

Alex Bryson @alexbryson.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Good to see that in the new Clarivate Journal Citation Report the IR Berkeley Impact Factor (JIF) rose from 2.4 in 2023 to 2.6 in 2024, with a move up the rankings in Industrial Relations and Labor from 19/51 to 14/52 @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Session 4: Downstream effects of Minimum Wages (chaired by Alexandra Hill), with @kristaruffini.bsky.social, @annastansbury.bsky.social, and Jason Sockin

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Keynote: David Card, “Employer Wage-Setting in Low-Wage Labor Markets”

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Session 2: Employer power in low wage labor markets (chaired by Todd Sorensen), with @sydneecaldwell.bsky.social, @arindube.bsky.social, and Suresh Naidu

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

#EconSky: Last chance to register for virtual attendance at Friday's Minimum Wages and Monopsony Conference, featuring an all-star line of labor economists. Learn more and register: irle.berkeley.edu/events/minim...

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

We're one week out from the "Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power"! Virtual registration is still open for this one-day event. Register today: irle.berkeley.edu/minimum-wage...

irle.berkeley.edu

Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power Conference 2025 – Institute for Research on Labor and Employment

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Virtual registration is still open for the "Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power" conference! Featuring an all-star lineup of labor economists, this one-day event also honors career of Dr. Michael Reich. 📅 June 6, 2025 | 8am - 5pm 🔗 Register today: irle.berkeley.edu/events/minim...

Minimum Wages and Monopsony Power: MichalReichFest. June 6, 2025. Learn more: irle.berkeley.edu/events

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Starting soon, don't miss the Climate and Society Center's Clair Brown in this important discussion about the Climate Superfund.

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Reposted by UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE)

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 20/05/2025

Americans favor labor unions over big business now more than ever, analysis of new data @epi.org from me & Adam Reich of Columbia Labor Lab. In data back 60 years, Americans' sentiments are both warmer toward unions & cooler towards big business than ever before. www.epi.org/blog/america...

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Starting soon! Join @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social, @techequity.us, and Warehouse Workers Resource Center for a three-part webinar series that will cut through the AI hype to help better understand digital technologies in the workplace and how to respond through collective bargaining and public policy.

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

New research from @laurellucia.bsky.social @ucblaborcenter.bsky.social estimates that California could lose up to 217,000 jobs if Congress cuts Medicaid. 🔗 Read the brief: laborcenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u...

laborcenter.berkeley.edu

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Register now for the Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power Conference at UC Berkeley on June 6. Join leading scholars for this one-day conference, which also honors Michael Reich’s influential career. Space is limited. Register: irle.berkeley.edu/minimum-wage... #EconSky #MinimumWage #LaborEconomics

Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power Conference 2025. MichaelReichFest. June 6, 2025 at UC Berkeley's Alumni House and streaming via Zoom. Learn more and register: irle.berkeley.edu/events

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Call for proposals: CA labor economists are invited to submit papers for this year's All-California Labor Economics Conference, to be held Sept 11-12 at @siepr.bsky.social, and organized by @maya-rossin-slater.bsky.social and Isaac Sorkin. #EconSky Apply by May 31: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

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UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment (IRLE) @ucberkeleyirle.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

🗞️ Our April newsletter is here, full of funding opportunities, upcoming events, and new research from our centers. Read: us17.campaign-archive.com?u=1af5855024... 📬 Subscribe to stay connected with the latest from IRLE: berkeley.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe/po...

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IRLE News: Research Funding and Upcoming Events

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