What do they do?

Resolve disputes between workers and managers, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, or coordinate grievance procedures to handle employee complaints.

Also known as:

Business Agent, Business Representative, Grievance Manager, Labor Relations Specialist, Labor Specialist

Typical Wages

Projected Growth Rate

Employment of Labor Relations Specialists is projected to show little or no change from 2022 to 2032.

Projected Employment For All United States

No Data Available
  • -0.9%

    Change

    Select a state to see its job growth rate ranking
    5,200

    Job Openings

    Select a state to see its net job growth ranking

Best colleges for Labor Relations Specialists

Search

Colleges with the most graduates that become Labor Relations Specialists

Search

Looking for colleges that offer a specific major? Use the College Match Tool to find your best-matched schools and discover your estimated Net Price!

Education Level

Percent of workers in this field with these degrees:

  • Bachelor's degree  (45%)
  • Master's degree  (18%)
  • Some college, no degree  (16%)
  • High school diploma equivalent  (9%)
  • Associate's degree  (8%)
  • Doctorate or Professional Degree  (2%)
  • Less than high school diploma  (1%)

Typical College Majors

Most Popular Majors that prepare Labor Relations Specialists

Select Type of Degree:

People in this career often have these skills:

  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  • Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.

People in this career often know a lot about:

  • Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

People in this career often have talent in:

  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

People in this career often do these activities:

  • Arrange collective bargaining agreements.
  • Evaluate personnel practices to ensure adherence to regulations.
  • Collect evidence for legal proceedings.
  • Negotiate agreements to resolve disputes.
  • Assess risks to business operations.
  • Update knowledge of legal or regulatory environments.
  • Measure effectiveness of business strategies or practices.
  • Advise others on human resources topics.
  • Organize special events.
  • Train personnel on managerial topics.
  • Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.
  • Establish organizational guidelines or policies.
  • Establish business management methods.
  • Present business-related information to audiences.
  • Prepare regulatory or compliance documentation.

This page includes data from:

O*NET OnLine Career data: O*NET 28.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Logo Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics

careeronestop logo Videos: CareerOneStop, USDOL/ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Join thousands of students and parents learning about finding the right college, admissions secrets, scholarships, financial aid, and more.

College Raptor Loading Screen College Raptor Loading Screen