MSc in Labour Economics
Course Overview
The MSc in Labour Economics at LSLPE is a research-informed Master's programme running one year full-time or two years part-time across on-campus, online and distance routes. The syllabus is calibrated to UK senior-track economist practice as recognised by the Royal Economic Society and the Government Economic Service, with strong grounding in econometric identification, minimum-wage and immigration analysis, and pension and pay policy.
By graduation you will have produced applied wage-inequality analysis, an evaluation of an active labour-market programme, and a supervised dissertation using a large administrative or survey dataset. You will be able to write to the standard expected by the Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the CIPD research community.
Key Features
- Weekly econometrics workshops aligned with Royal Economic Society (RES) and Society of Professional Economists (SPE) standards.
- Case sessions on minimum wage, universal credit, skills funding and public-sector pay.
- Guest sessions from Government Economic Service (GES) analysts and Institute for Fiscal Studies alumni.
- Supervised dissertation on a live labour market using UK administrative or Labour Force Survey data.
- Three parallel study modes so serving analysts and progressor graduates share the same cohort.
- Careers-day introductions across the Treasury, DWP, ONS, the Bank of England and City labour-market desks.
What You Will Learn
- Estimating labour-supply and labour-demand elasticities using microdata.
- Applying difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity and instrumental variables to labour policy.
- Analysing wage inequality, the gender pay gap and ethnic pay differentials.
- Evaluating active labour-market programmes, apprenticeships and skills funding.
- Reading and stress-testing minimum-wage impact reports.
- Modelling migration, pensions and retirement decisions.
- Writing an econometric appendix that a peer-review journal would accept.
- Defending a dissertation in an oral viva in front of a mixed academic and practitioner panel.
Who This Course Is For
- Graduates aiming for economist roles in Whitehall, at the Bank of England or in the City.
- Serving GES economists, HR analysts and pay-policy officers looking to update their toolkit.
- Trade-union researchers and think-tank analysts working on wages and employment.
- International applicants moving into UK or European labour-market research.
- Portfolio-route applicants with five or more years of relevant senior experience.
Career Pathways
- Labour Market Analyst
- Government Economist within the GES
- Economic Policy Analyst on skills and pay
- Research Economist at a think tank
- Public Finance Analyst on pensions and DWP files
- Central Bank Analyst on wage-inflation dynamics
- Behavioural Economist on job-search and benefit design
- Economic Consultant advising employers on pay strategy
The LSLPE careers service curates introductions across Treasury, the Bank of England, the ONS, City firms and think tanks, and refreshes curriculum alignment annually against Bar Standards Board, Political Studies Association and Royal Economic Society guidance.
Entry Requirements
- A UK Bachelor's degree (2:2 or above) or equivalent international qualification, ideally in economics, statistics, mathematics or a quantitative social science.
- IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
- Applicants without a Bachelor's degree but with 5+ years of senior economist, HR analyst or public-sector research experience are considered on portfolio.
- One academic and one professional reference.
- A 500-word research proposal or professional practice statement identifying your labour-economics interest area.
Why Study at LSLPE
LSLPE is a specialist division of Harold International College of London teaching in small, tutor-visible cohorts. Central London places the Treasury, the Bank of England, HM Revenue and Customs, the ONS Cardiff hub via video link, and the LSE-adjacent think-tank ecosystem within reach of every seminar room, which matters when labour policy is being drafted a few stops from the classroom.
Every intake, on-campus or remote, joins the same weekly seminar structure with named programme-tutor support. Seminars are run in the case-room and select-committee tradition, evidence-led and argued in public, and the careers service connects students with employers across the Treasury, the City, think tanks and international bodies.
Apply for MSc in Labour Economics
Applications for the MSc in Labour Economics are open now, with intakes calibrated to the UK academic year and rolling admissions for online and distance cohorts. Enrol on an LSLPE Master's programme and produce a supervised dissertation on a live UK labour-market file. Enrol Now
