California is unique in its size, and in the diversity of its population and economy. It has been in the forefront of several trends in the labor market, including the increased use of alternative ways of getting work done (e.g. “gig work”), project-based work, and contract employment; in the growth of contingent forms of employment; and in the erosion of traditional working conditions.
The Labor Lab is designed to document the extent to which these new forms of work are being used, to gauge their effect on the health of the working age population of the State, and to engage with workers, employers, and policymakers to mitigate these effects.
The California Labor Laboratory is a NIOSH Center of Excellence for Total Worker Health®. The Lab is a collaboration among investigators from UCSF and UC Berkeley as well as the CA Department of Public Health. Participating academic units at UCSF include the Philip R Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Rheumatology, and Preventive Dentistry. Participating units at UCB include Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces, Labor Occupational Health Program, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, and Labor Center. Other members of the Labor Lab team are from the School of Public Health at UCLA and the Kennedy School at Harvard.
