Earn a Labor Studies Certificate

Welcome to Labor Studies – an interdisciplinary program that explores all aspects of employment. Jobs are central to most people’s lives and our courses offer wide-ranging analysis of such crucial and controversial issues as: career building, job search and placement, legal rights at work, skills training, pay and benefits growth, occupational health and safety, work force diversity and inequality, immigration, trade unions, labor-management relations, and government employment and safety net programs.

Students in the program benefit from the rich teaching and research experience of our faculty drawn from business, economics, history, law, psychology, sociology and other disciplines. Each year our faculty and students organize an exciting array of on-campus speakers, films and other events. We also offer students the rare opportunity to publish their original research papers in our own highly respected academic journal, Regional Labor Review.

Around the world, from the factory to the office to the Internet, today’s workplace is changing rapidly. These changes are dramatically affecting not only the ways that we work, but also the basic relationships among workers, between workers and labor organizations, and between employees and management. Labor Studies at Hofstra is an interdisciplinary program designed to offer students a solid background in the multiple perspectives on and analytical approaches to employment issues in an international context. In the process, students also have opportunities to acquire valuable analytic and communication skills that have become essential today for professional advancement.

Career Options
After completing a program in Labor Studies, job-seeking graduates invariably find this training a great asset for a wide range of careers in business (particularly human resources), nonprofit organizations, government, labor law, arbitration, teaching, and labor unions. The program also prepares students for graduate programs in labor and industrial relations and in related areas of business, education, law, public administration, and the social sciences.

Labor Studies Certificate Requirements
Six (6) Required Classes

1. Labor History
2. Collective Bargaining
3. Labor and Employment Law
4. Political Economy
5. Communication and Research
6. Interdisciplinary Electives