Also called: Labor Attorney, Workplace Lawyer
Handles legal issues between workers and employers, like discrimination, wages, and union contracts.
An employment lawyer might investigate a harassment complaint at a company, defend a business in a wage lawsuit, or bargain a union contract. Some represent workers, others represent employers. The job mixes counseling, investigating, and courtroom work.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 7 years after high school. Bachelor's in any subject, then a 3-year Juris Doctor (JD) and passing the state bar exam.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Industrial Relations, Human Resources, Political Science, Psychology, Economics.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years). BLS projection for all lawyers (2024-34).
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI drafts handbooks and reviews wage data; workplace investigations, union bargaining and courtroom work stay human.
Classes: AP U.S. Government, Psychology, Economics, Speech and debate.
Official data: O*NET occupation 23-1011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.