Collaborative Research: Understanding New Labor Relations for the 21st Century

This collaborative project investigates what factors contribute to regional and sectoral variation in labor organizing as the conditions of industrial and warehouse employment have changed in recent decades. The research uses a mixed methodology of quantitative survey data with qualitative insights from interviews and fieldwork to examine these variables and thus provide a new scientific model for the study of labor. The project provides advanced training opportunities in scientific research methods for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The results will be widely disseminated through non-academic pathways. The researchers employ an innovative, multivariate model for the study of labor relations, integrating interviews, survey data, and on-the-ground fieldwork to identify what variables contribute to changing labor force dynamics. The investigators test for the impacts of multiple factors involved in the enhancement of labor strength and productivity in the context of the expanding heterogeneity of the needs of the 21st century workforce. The results advance scientific debates in cultural anthropology, sociology, and economics about labor dynamics and the health and productivity of commercial sectors of the U.S. economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.