He has spent the past twenty-five years doing a combination of labor organizing, public policy and economic research work. He has worked with a wide range of unions including farm workers, hotel workers, bus drivers, teachers, nurses, longshore, supermarket and construction workers. Lafer holds a PhD in Political Science and is co-founder of the American Political Science Association’s Labor Project. In 2009-10 he was on leave from the University to serve as Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor.