Labor Relations Specialists
US occupation · SOC 13-1075
Job titles people report: Business Agent, Business Representative, Grievance Manager, Labor Relations Specialist, Labor Specialist
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $95,420
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $71,920 – $123,420
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 64,810
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +2.1%
- Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 4,800
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Resolve disputes between workers and managers, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, or coordinate grievance procedures to handle employee complaints.
Main tasks
- Negotiate collective bargaining agreements.
- Investigate and evaluate union complaints or arguments to determine viability.
- Propose resolutions for collective bargaining or other labor or contract negotiations.
- Draft contract proposals or counter-proposals for collective bargaining or other labor negotiations.
- Interpret contractual agreements for employers and employees engaged in collective bargaining or other labor relations processes.
- Prepare evidence for disciplinary hearings, including preparing witnesses to testify.
- Mediate discussions between employer and employee representatives in attempt to reconcile differences.
- Review employer practices or employee data to ensure compliance with contracts on matters such as wages, hours, or conditions of employment.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Bachelor's degree
- Work experience in a related job: less than 5 years
- O*NET Job Zone 4
- Considerable preparation
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions
- Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
- Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 4 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Business
- Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General
- Labor and Industrial Relations
- Labor Studies
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Business at the Major step.
Where many students take business
- Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 35% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
- Western Governors UniversitySalt Lake City, UT · 28% of degrees · 155,088 undergraduates
- Arizona State University Campus ImmersionTempe, AZ · 26% of degrees · 64,674 undergraduates
- Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenix, AZ · 22% of degrees · 73,371 undergraduates
- University of Maryland Global CampusAdelphi, MD · 25% of degrees · 49,664 undergraduates
- University of the PeoplePasadena, CA · 53% of degrees · 22,688 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Other fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies
- Dispute Resolution
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators
$75,530 median · +4.7% projected
- Human Resources Managers
$149,280 median · +5.5% projected
- Human Resources Specialists
$75,940 median · +6.4% projected
- Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists
$78,210 median · +6% projected
- Compensation and Benefits Managers
$149,230 median · +1.1% projected
- Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and Timekeeping
$50,610 median · -6.2% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 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. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk