About the Program

The bachelor of arts degree in labor studies and employment relations is embedded in the broader undergraduate curriculum of Rutgers' School of Arts and Sciences. It is possible to complete the degree in the evening as well as in the daytime.

View Undergraduate Catalog 2007-2009

The undergraduate labor studies and employment relations program provides students with an opportunity to learn more about the nature of work, the problems of working people, and what workers have done to address those problems, both individually and collectively.

• The program's introductory courses offer a realistic view of the dominant institutions, practices, and values of the workforce and explore how the world of work might change to meet the challenge of the next century.
  
• Intermediate courses enable students to acquire a range of specific competencies useful for employment relations' specialists and human resource staff. These courses allow students to participate in a series of cultural and disciplinary dialogues providing alternate perspectives on work and the wider society.
  
• Advanced courses provide labor studies and employment relations majors with an opportunity to consolidate what they have learned about the nature of work.

Concentrations within the Major

A concentration within the major consists of courses selected so as to meet the requirements of the corresponding labor studies minor option.  A concentration within in the major is not required.
For more details about this option >> Click here

• Law and the Workplace
• Diversity in the Workplace
• Work Organization and Management
• Labor Unions and Social Movements
• Work, Globalization, and Migration

What is required for the major and for admission to the School?

In order to major in this multidisciplinary course of study, students must take 36 credits of labor studies and employment relations courses as part of the total 120 credits required to graduate from Rutgers.  These courses must include one of the Introduction to Labor Studies and Employment Relations classes (but not both), Perspectives on Labor Studies and Employment Relations, and one "capstone course" consisting either of the Senior Seminar, an independent study or an internship related to the field.

Students may be conditionally admitted once they complete the application.  They then receive the full range of advising and support services offered by the School.

Click here for Application in PDF (print, write, and submit below)
or download Application in Word (fill online. print and submit below)

The full admission decision is based on a one-page statement regarding why the applicant wishes to be a labor studies major and on their academic record in the introduction to labor studies course and the university as a whole.   

Students must be fully admitted to the School in order to enroll in required advanced courses.

Application Letter Guidelines

For more information, email us at: marchitto@smlr.rutgers.edu

What is required for the minor?

The minor in this degree program consists of 18 credits in labor studies and must include Introduction to Labor Studies and Employment Relations.   Students need not be admitted to the School of Management and Labor Relations to complete the minor.

Please contact or submit applications to:
Amalia (Amy) Marchitto, Student Advisor
Labor Studies & Employment Relations
50 Labor Center Way
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Email: marchitto@smlr.rutgers.edu
732-932-8559-W
732-932-8677-F