Ken JacobsSenior Policy Advisor, Labor Center at IRLE

Ken Jacobs is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Labor Center at IRLE, after serving 17 years as chair and one year as co-chair. His areas of focus include low-wage work, labor standards policies, sectoral wage setting, and health care coverage. Recent research includes analyses of California Proposition 22 and drivers’ earnings, worker misclassification, and the effect of unions on wages and benefits; prospective studies of proposed city and state minimum wage laws; the relationship between wages, turnover, security, and safety at U.S. airports; the economic benefits of care work; and the public cost of low-wage work.

Jacobs is the co-editor with Michael Reich and Miranda Dietz of When Mandates Work: Raising Labor Standards at the Local Level from University of California Press. Jacobs led a multi-campus program providing research and technical assistance to unions, consumer stakeholders, and policymakers on the effects of the Affordable Care Act and measures to cover the remaining uninsured. His work has been covered in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and National Public Radio.