---
title: "Labor Relations Specialist"
description: "Resolve disputes between workers and managers, negotiate collective bargaining agreements, or coordinate grievance procedures to handle employee…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/labor-relations-specialist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Labor Relations Specialist

**Category:** Business and Financial Operations · **SOC code:** 13-1075 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 13-1075.00

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

Also advertised as: Business Agent; Business Representative; Grievance Manager; Labor Relations Specialist; Labor Specialist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $95,420 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $45.87/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $50,490 to $156,180, with the middle half between $71,920 and $123,420
- **Total US employment:** 64,810
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 4,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 28/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 64,810 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $50,490 |
| 25th | $71,920 |
| 50th (median) | $95,420 |
| 75th | $123,420 |
| 90th | $156,180 |
| Mean (average) | $98,720 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NJ | $118,370 | $108,791 | 3,700 |
| DC | $115,600 | $105,186 | 160 |
| MA | $111,260 | $105,203 | 1,660 |
| CA | $105,810 | $95,565 | 8,830 |
| IL | $104,180 | $104,224 | 3,670 |
| WA | $104,100 | $97,278 | 2,760 |
| ND | $101,220 | $113,783 | 90 |
| MN | $100,760 | $102,169 | 1,710 |
| NY | $100,500 | $93,124 | 6,860 |
| VA | $98,730 | $97,652 | 990 |
| DE | $97,390 | $97,577 | 280 |
| AZ | $97,070 | $96,417 | 790 |
| ME | $96,680 | $99,619 | 210 |
| WI | $95,750 | $101,759 | 1,690 |
| MD | $94,030 | $89,587 | 890 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/labor-relations-specialist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/labor-relations-specialist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 66,300 in the 2025–2035 base year to 67,700 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,400 jobs, or +2.1%. Slower than average: 2.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 4,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** Less than 5 years.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 33.3% |
| Some College Courses | 9.5% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 9.5% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 9.5% |
| Master's Degree | 9.5% |
| First Professional Degree | 9.5% |

## What the work involves

- Investigate and evaluate union complaints or arguments to determine viability.
- Research case law or outcomes of previous case hearings.
- Review employer practices or employee data to ensure compliance with contracts on matters such as wages, hours, or conditions of employment.
- Interpret contractual agreements for employers and employees engaged in collective bargaining or other labor relations processes.
- Call or meet with union, company, government, or other interested parties to discuss labor relations matters, such as contract negotiations or grievances.
- Select mediators or arbitrators for labor disputes or contract negotiations.
- Mediate discussions between employer and employee representatives in attempt to reconcile differences.
- Negotiate collective bargaining agreements.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Negotiation — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Personnel and Human Resources — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 5.65 |
| C — Conventional | 4.61 |
| S — Social | 3.72 |
| I — Investigative | 3.10 |
| A — Artistic | 1.71 |
| R — Realistic | 1.31 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 76.6 |
| ESTJ | 74.5 |
| ENFJ | 68.5 |
| ENTJ | 68.2 |
| ISFJ | 56.6 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Arbitrator, Mediator, and Conciliator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/arbitrator-mediator-and-conciliator) — median $75,530
- [Equal Opportunity Representative and Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/equal-opportunity-representative-and-officer) — median $80,730
- [Human Resources Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-manager) — median $149,280
- [Human Resources Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-specialist) — median $75,940
- [Compensation, Benefit, and Job Analysis Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compensation-benefit-and-job-analysis-specialist) — median $78,210
- [Compensation and Benefits Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compensation-and-benefits-manager) — median $149,230
- [Human Resources Assistant, Except Payroll and Timekeeping](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-assistant) — median $50,610
- [Public Relations Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-manager) — median $146,910
- [Lawyer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/lawyer) — median $159,670
- [Compliance Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compliance-manager) — median $141,900

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank 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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/labor-relations-specialist