OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Resolve disputes between workers and managers, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, or coordinate grievance procedures to handle employee complaints.
Highlights
Undergraduate program resulting in the highest median salary ($79K): Economics
Largest undergraduate program (14.0% of workers): Business Management and Administration
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
Fewer details
Responsibilities and activities
Labor relations specialists typically do the following:
- Advise management on contracts, worker grievances, and disciplinary procedures
- Lead meetings between management and labor
- Meet with union representatives
- Draft proposals and rules or regulations
- Ensure that human resources policies are consistent with union agreements
- Interpret formal communications between management and labor
- Investigate validity of labor grievances
- Train management on labor relations
Labor relations specialists work with representatives from a labor union and a company’s management. In addition to leading meetings between the two groups, these specialists draft formal language as part of the collective bargaining process. These contracts are called collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), and they serve as a legal and procedural guide for employee/management relations.
Labor relations specialists also address specific grievances workers might have, and ensure that all labor and management solutions comply within the relevant CBA.
Salary
Median salary: $73,240 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $46,440 and $99,940.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
Fewer details
Salary growth for human resources specialists
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Labor Relations Specialists
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of labor relations specialists who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- High Conflict Frequency (75%)
- Time Pressure (75%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (70%)
- Consequence of Error (45%)
Fewer details
Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Labor Relations Specialists? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Decisionmaking skills
Labor relations specialists use decisionmaking skills to help management and labor agree on decisions when resolving grievances or other disputes.
Detail oriented
Specialists must be detail oriented when evaluating labor laws and maintaining records of an employee grievance.
Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are essential for labor relations specialists. When mediating between labor and management, specialists must be able to converse and connect with people from different backgrounds.
Listening skills
Listening skills are essential for labor relations specialists. When evaluating grievances, for example, they must pay careful attention to workers’ responses, understand the points they are making, and ask relevant follow-up questions.
Writing skills
All labor relations specialists need strong writing skills to be effective at their job. They often draft proposals, and these proposals must be able to convey complex information to both workers and management.
Injury and Illness
About 10 labor relations specialists become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, which reflects fewer events than in 53% of other careers. The most common specific concerns detailed following.
Soreness and pain
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by labor relations specialists
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), labor relations specialists typically hold a bachelor's degree.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as human resources specialists as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for labor relations specialists
Labor relations specialists usually have a bachelor’s degree. Some schools offer a bachelor’s degree in labor or employment relations. These programs focus on labor-specific topics such as employment law and contract negotiation.
Candidates also may qualify for labor relations specialist positions with a bachelor’s degree in human resources, industrial relations, business, or a related field. Coursework typically includes business, professional writing, human resource management, and accounting.
Details: Licensing and certification recommended for labor relations specialists
Some colleges and universities offer labor relations certificates to specialists who prefer greater specialization in certain topics, such as mediation. Earning these certificates give participants a better understanding of labor law, the collective bargaining process, and worker grievance procedures.
Education level of Human Resources Specialists
About 62% of human resources specialists have at least a bachelor's degree.
Education attained by human resources specialists
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Top college degrees
Here are the top college degrees held by the 61% of people in this job who have at least a bachelor's degree. Some of degrees may link to multiple programs due to the way Census classifies college majors. Click on a program to learn more about career opportunities for people who major in that field.
Fewer details
College majors held by human resources specialists
This table shows the college majors held by people working as human resources specialists. If you see "**" before the name of a degree/program, that means this field is one that the Department of Education believes is preparatory for this career. However, you can see from this list that those recommendations are far from your only path to this job!
Major
Select any title to learn more about that degree
Salary comparison for bachelor's only
Higher
Similar
Lower
Career salary (tail) versus Career/Major salary (dot)
Does the bachelor's-only salary rise or fall with this major?
Salary for bachelor's-only
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Salary for all workers
For people with this career and major
Median
Middle 50%
Middle 80%
Education for Career and Major
Bachelor's
Master's
Professional
Doctorate
Workers with this career/major
Percentage in this career with this major
Not so much?
The link between degrees and this career
With the following sankey diagram, you can follow the top ten bachelor's degrees held by people working as human resources specialists, and then, in turn, you can see the 10 occupations that hire the most of each degree's graduates. We hope this provides ideas for similar jobs and similar fields of study.
Expand degrees
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Human Resources Specialists per 1,000 workers (ACS)
Fewer details
Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most labor relations specialists? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as labor relations specialists. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where labor relations specialists earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for human resources specialists compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for human resources specialists.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which human resources specialists earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Human Resources Specialists (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
7% of Human resources specialists are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 7% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 67% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
Fewer details
Distribution: Salaries of human resources specialists by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Human resources specialists and gender
With 72% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 83% of careers.
Gender of Human resources specialists
Men (28%)
Women (72%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Fewer details
Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for human resources specialists, with the
median salary for men 17%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Human resources specialists
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Human resources specialists.
Race/origin of human resources specialists
White (73% )
Black (15% )
Asian (5% )
Other (3% )
Multiracial (3% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
