Labour relations define for or with whom one works and under what rules. These rules (implicit or explicit, written or unwritten) determine the type of work, type and amount of remuneration, working hours, degrees of physical and psychological strain, as well as the degree of freedom and autonomy associated with the work.

The Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations is a collaborative effort to study labour relations in a global perspective. The project has two main goals. First, to provide statistical insights into the global distribution of all types of labour relations (systematically including women's and child labour) in five historical cross-sections: 1500, 1650, 1800, 1900, [Africa: 1950], and 2000. Second, to explain the signalled shifts in labour relations worldwide.
During the first phase of the project (2007-2012), made possible by generous funding from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung in Düsseldorf, and additional funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research ( NWO) and the IISH, a large group of international scholars met during workshops, worked together online and developed a large number of datasets containing data on the occurrence of all types of labour relations in all parts of the world during five cross-sections in time, thereby also developing a new taxonomy of labour relations based on a shared set of definitions. Without the enthusiasm and not to mention the many hours of production of our collaborators who are the beating heart of this collaboratory, the project would not have been possible.

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Selection of recent publications:

• Karin Pallaver and Filipa Ribeiro da Silva (eds.) "Women at Work in Sub-Saharan Africa: Reciprocal, Reproductive, Tributary and Commodified Labor, c.1800–2000" Special Issue of African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 2022
• Karin Pallaver, Filipa Ribeiro da Silva, "Introduction", African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 1-11
• Karin Hofmeester, 'The "Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations": Putting Women's Labor and Labor Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa in a Global Context', African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 12-42
• Valentina Fusari, 'Gendered Labor Relations in Colonial and Post-Colonial Eritrea', African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 43-66
• Karin Pallaver, `From Subsistence Farmers To Guardians of Food Security and Well-Being: Shifts and Continuities in Female Labor Relations in Tanzania (1800–2000)´, African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 67-92
• Rory Pilossof, Women and Work in Zimbabwe, C.1800–2000´, African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 93-117
• Filipa Ribeiro da Silva, ´Balancing Subsistence Agriculture and Self-Employment in Small Businesses: Continuity and Change in Women's Labor and Labor Relations in Mozambique, 1800–2000´, African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 118-151
• Karin Hofmeester, Karin Pallaver, Filipa Ribeiro da Silva, `Women's Labor Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa and The Global South Compared, 1800–2000´, African Economic History Volume 50, Number 1, 152-170
• Jan Lucassen, The Story of Work A New History of Humankind (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021)
• Karin Hofmeester and Jan Lucassen, “Shifting labor relations in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey 1500–2000: An Introduction”, International Labor and Working-Class History , 97 (2020), pp. 6 – 27
• Karin Hofmeester and Jan Lucassen, “Ottoman Tax Registers as a Source for Labor Relations in Ottoman Bursa”, idem, pp.28-56
• Hülya Canbakal, Alpay Filiztekin, “Slavery and Decline of Slave-Ownership in Ottoman Bursa 1460–1880”, idem, pp.57-80
• Yahya Araz, İrfan Kokdaş, “In Between Market and Charity: Child Domestic Work and Changing Labor Relations in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul”, idem, pp.81-101
• Karin Hofmeester and Pim de Zwart) (eds), Colonialism, Institutional Change and Shifts in Global Labour Relations (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2018, Open Access)
• Marcelo Badaró Mattos, Paulo Terra, Raquel Varela (eds), História das relações de trabalho: Brasil e Portugal em perspectiva global (Rio de Janairo: Consequência Editora, 2017).
• Karin Hofmeester and with Marcel van der Linden (eds), Handbook Global History of Work (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018).
• Karin Hofmeester Types of Labour Relations: Introductory Remarks in Ibid, pp. 329-340
• Karin Hofmeester Attitudes to Work" in Ibid, pp.411-431
• Karin Hofmeester and Elise van Nederveen-Meerkerk) (eds), Family, Demography and Labour Relations , Special Section of The History of The Family, vol 22, no 1, March 2017.
• Karin Hofmeester and Christine Moll-Murata, 'Big Questions and Big Data: A Reply from the Global Collaboratory', in: International Review of Social History, vol. 61, no 1, April 2017, pp. 123-128.
• Richard Zijdeman and Rombert Stapel, Abstract Digital Humanities 2016, Krakow, 11-16 July
• Karin Hofmeester, Gijs Kessler and Christine Moll-Murata) (eds), Conquerors, Employers and Arbiters: States and Shifts in Labour Relations, 1500-2000 (externe link) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) International Review of Social History, Special Issue 24.
• Christian de Vito and Alex Lichtenstein, ‘Writing a Global History of Convict Labour’, in: idem (eds). Global Convict Labour (Leiden & Boston 2015), pp. vii-xviii.
• Marcelo Badaró Mattos et al (eds), Relações Laborais em Portugal e no Mundo Lusófono. Historia e Demografia. Lisbon: Edições Colibri 2014.
• History in Africa with a special section on Labour Relations on Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Karin Hofmeester, Jan Lucasssen and Filipa Ribeiro-da Silva (2014).
• Jan Lucassen and Rombert Stapel, Labour relations in India 1500 now Paper for Staff lunch seminar social & economic history, Utrecht 27 February 2014.
• Richard Zijdeman and Rombert Stapel, Describing and explaining shifts in labour relations using a micro-macro approach DH Benelux presentation, The Hague 2014.
• Diálogos with a special section on Labour Relations in the Lusophone world (2013).
• Publications and Projects on Labour Relations from our Collaboratory Colleague Dmitry Khitrov (2013).
• Jan Lucassen, Outlines of a History of Labour. Largely based on the results of the Collaboratory (2013).
• Erik-Jan Zürcher (ed.), Fighting for A Living. A Comparative History of Military Labour 1500-2000 (Amsterdam, 2013).