The Center for Labor Market Studies (CLMS) was an applied research, evaluation, and policy-oriented technical assistance unit located within the Department of Economics of Northeastern University. It was initially established in 1979 to provide regional leadership for a three-year grant that the Economics Department had received from the United States Department of Labor under the Institutional Grant (IG) Program. The IG program was designed to involve the nation’s universities and colleges more fully in the education, training, and professional development of staff in the human resources system at the regional, state, and local levels.
CLMS also began to conduct applied labor market research in Massachusetts, the New England region, and the entire country to train labor market analysts and human resource program planners on research, planning, and evaluation techniques, and to assist in the development of improved labor market and occupational information systems and program evaluation systems at all levels. CLMS activities included conducting sponsored and other research on labor market developments, trends and problems, and the outcomes and impacts of employment and training policies and programs.
The Center produced a variety of research publications on these topics and disseminated research and evaluation findings to the national and local media. It provided a wide array of technical assistance and training activities and was actively involved with employment and training organizations and professional research associations. When CLMS closed in 2014, all archival material and publications were transferred to the University Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern University Libraries. Selected publications have been digitized and made available here. The Archives finding aid contains further details about other materials in the collection.
Key Figures
Andrew M. Sum
Founder and director of the Center of Labor Market Studies, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Northeastern University
Associate Director of the Center for Labor Market Studies (CLMS), 1985-2014; now Director of the Center of Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University