Labor Studies
Sign In
OverviewSalary and DebtIs a Bachelor's EnoughCareersSchoolsRelated ProgramsGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Labor studies is a program that focuses on the study of various aspects of work, labor organization and policy, and labor movements from the perspective of the social sciences and history. includes instruction in labor history; political and ideological issues; worker movements and social organizations; civil rights; labor law and policy studies; labor economics; international and comparative labor studies; and applications to specific industries, groups, locations, and time periods.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($75K) with a Bachelor's Degree: Nyack College
Career with the highest median salary ($95K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: Software Developers
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Labor studies majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
Labor Relations SpecialistsHuman Resources ManagersSpecialized ManagersSecretaries and Administrative...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Elementary and Middle School S...Lawyers, and judges, magistrat...Chief executives and legislato...Accountants and AuditorsFirst-Line Supervisors of Offi...Customer Service Representativ...Financial ManagersFirst-Line Supervisors of Non-...Management AnalystsGeneral and Operations Manager...Education and childcare admini...
Share
Fewer details
Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
0501001500-1 Year Certificate1-2 Year CertificateAssociate's DegreeBachelor's DegreePostbaccalaureate CertMaster's Degree
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for human resources and personnel management changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
050100150200250200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Research Doctorate
Post-master's Cert
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
Associate's Degree
2-4 Year Certificate
1-2 Year Certificate
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in labor studies doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer a degree in the field human resources management and services, which includes labor studies.
Median starting salaries
$51K$33K$45K$51K$43K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KPost-master's CertMaster'sBachelor'sAssociate'sCertificate
Median cumulative loan amount
$7K$23K$26K$41K$43K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KPost-master's CertMaster'sBachelor'sAssociate'sCertificate
Fewer details
Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for human resources and personnel management majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$60K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: human resources and personnel management majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's inhuman resources and personnel management by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$56K$70K$89K$84K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorateProfessional
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in human resources and personnel management
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in human resources and personnel management. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Fewer details
Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 31% of human resources and personnel management majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of human resources and personnel management majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 62% of other fields.
31%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
25%52%59%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
Top careers for those with a degree in human resources and personnel management
Following are the most frequent jobs held by people who earned a bachelor's degree in Human Resources and Personnel Management (which combines 7 programs), though may not be limited to just those with a bachelor’s.
  1. Labor Relations Specialists
  2. Human Resources Managers
  3. Specialized Managers
  4. Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
  5. First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
  6. Elementary and Middle School School Teachers
  7. Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
  8. Chief executives and legislators
  9. Accountants and Auditors
  10. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
Fewer details
Careers for human resources and personnel management majors
Where do human resources and personnel management majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in human resources and personnel management
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by human resources and personnel management graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
Labor Relations Spec...Human Resources Mana...Specialized ManagersSecretaries and Admi...First-Line Superviso...Elementary and Middl...Lawyers, and judges,...Chief executives and...Accountants and Audi...First-Line Superviso...All othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire human resources and personnel management majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire human resources and personnel management majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by human resources and personnel management majors.
Human Resources and Perso...All other degreesLabor Relations Specialis...Human Resources ManagersCompensation and Benefits...Compensation, Benefits, a...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer labor studies degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns

The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:

  • Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.

  • Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).

  • Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.

We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.

Filter Schools
Offering this program at this level
All levels
Only schools within
200 Miles
of
Only schools in these states
AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Related Programs
Top 10 similar programs
Following are related programs, ordered by those with the highest number of completions. You can explore a full list by pressing the more details button.
  1. Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration
  2. Organizational Behavior Studies
  3. Insurance
  4. Human Resources Development
  5. Labor and Industrial Relations
  6. Specialized Study in Human Resources Management and Services
Fewer details
Careers for human resources and personnel management majors
human resources and personnel management is part of a larger collection of programs: Human Resources. Is there a different program that's close to human resources and personnel management that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in labor studies earned in the last academic year, 67% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
050100150200250Number of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
65%35%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a higher percentage of women than 65% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
$56K$70K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For human resources and personnel management graduates, men have a 24% higher median salary than women, This is high: 71% of programs have graduates with lower salary inequities.
24%24%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all labor studies graduates from this last academic year. We found a higher percentage of international graduates in this program than in 65% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
050100150200250Number of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a higher percentage of graduates than in 79% of other programs.