Abstract
As we come to the close of the 75th Anniversary of the ILR Review, we want to thank all of our contributors for making the journal a leading source of groundbreaking research on labor economics and employment relations. We also want to announce some editorial transitions. Rosemary Batt is stepping down as co-editor, and Virginia Doellgast, Cornell University, joins the team as her replacement. Laura Giuliano and Emilio Castilla are stepping down as associate editors. We thank them for their exceptional editorial service. We are pleased to welcome Amalia Miller, University of Virginia, as our newest associate editor of labor economics.
Over the past year, the Review has published important new research on timely issues, including labor market inequality, race and gender differences at work, gig work, workplace safety, the quality of jobs, and changing forms of collective representation. In this issue, we feature innovative research on the impact of precarious schedules on workers, immigration policy, wage setting for immigrants at work, public-sector unions and teacher pay, and the gender pay gap. Also of note is our forum on the “Politics of Skills,” which builds on articles published earlier this year on the changing demand for skills and training.
We are particularly excited about our special series, launched earlier this year, on Novel Technologies at Work (https://tinyurl.com/NovelTech), led by associate editor Adam Seth Litwin. Our focus differs from that of many others in our goal of advancing knowledge about the impact of novel technologies on work, workers, employment relations, and labor markets. Our May 2022 debut article featured a comprehensive review by Diane Bailey, “Emerging Technologies at Work: Policy Ideas to Address Negative Consequences for Work, Workers, and Society.” An expert on workplace technologies and engineering, Bailey offered labor and employment scholars a “sympathetic technologist’s” primer on the sorts of technologies confronting workers. Her explanations, examples, and typology set the table for a sobering discussion of the ways in which workplace technological advancement could potentially harm workers and society-at-large. But, more important, it establishes what’s quickly emerging as a leitmotif in our special series and in the most careful analyses of workplace technological change writ large—“technologies do not arrive at the workplace through a natural or inevitable technological process, neither are the consequences of their use technologically predetermined” (Bailey 2022: 529–30). No doubt this message resonates with our readership, trained to have an eye for “labor problems” and an inclination for addressing them rather than just explaining them (Kaufman 1993; Kochan 1998). Bailey jump-starts the discussion. While recognizing that technological change can produce benefits to society, Bailey’s article reminds us of its downside and suggests in broad policy terms the areas in which policymaking could mitigate the negative aspects of technological change.
The series’ second installment shifted our perspective from that of the technologist-in-the-sky to the work-and-employment researcher on the ground. In our August issue “Forum on Emerging Technologies,” the authors presented short industry studies of the nature and impact of technological change in individual sectors (Litwin, Hammerling, Carré, Tilly, Benner, Mason, Viscelli, Gutelius, and Theodore 2022). Each note is an updated analysis based on a multi-year study of the Future of Work and Workers, coordinated by Annette Bernhardt, Berkeley Labor Center (https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/future-of-work-and-workers/).
Upcoming publications in this series will consider how algorithms are designed, fed, and implemented; how worker representatives can respond to them; and what options exist for policy responses. We also look forward to publishing international comparative research on the topic and welcome your ongoing contributions to this series.