Clair Brown

Clair Brown

Dr. Clair Brown is Professor of Economics and director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Society at the University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Brown has published research on many aspects of the labor market, including high-tech workers, labor market institutions, firm employment systems and firm performance, wage determination, and the standard of living. The industries she has studied include semiconductors, telecommunications, consumer electronics, automobiles, and high-tech start-ups. Brown heads the human resources group of the Sloan Semiconductor Program at U.C. Berkeley. Their research has analyzed how the labor market for engineers has been changing, and how semiconductor companies create and capture value. Research on the firm employment systems and macroeconomic institutions in the United States and Japan is presented in Work and Pay in the United States and Japan (with Nakata, Reich and Ulman; Oxford University Press, 1997). The semiconductor report, chapters from her books, and papers can be found at http://iir.berkeley.edu/worktech. Currently Brown is writing a book (with Dr. Greg Linden) on the evolution of the semiconductor industry.

Recent Professional Experience

  • Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley (on faculty since 1973)
  • Director, Center for Work, Technology and Society, IIR (since 1997)
  • Offshore Working Group, Steering Committee, Industrial Performance Center, MIT, 2005
  • ITEC Visiting Fellow, Doshisha University, Kyoto Japan (2004, 2005)
  • Co-founder, GetSkilz, Inc. (1999-2004)
  • Director, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley (1992-1997)
  • Director, Competitive Semiconductor Industry-Human Resources Program (since 1993)
  • Member, Planning Meeting on International Labor Mobility and Knowledge Development, The National Academies, Washington, D.C., June 16, 2003
  • Director, National Center for the Workplace, Institute of Industrial Relations (1993- 1996)
  • International Advisory Panel, University Malaysia Sarawak