In broad terms, Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) staff members are engaged in research at provincial, national and international level on the following: skills development, informal employment, social provisioning, workplace organisation, labour organisation, development planning, and the state. Their international engagements include work with WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising), the ILO (International Labour Organisation) and the GLU (Global Labour University). Their national engagements include work with the HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council), DHET (Department of Higher Education and Training), DoL (Department of Labour), StatsSA (Statistics South Africa), the National Treasury, COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and SAFTU (South African Federation of Trade Unions). Their provincial engagements include work with DEDEAT, ECSECC (Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council), the ECHRDC (Eastern Cape Human Resource Development Council). Their research draws on qualitative and quantitative research methods, and they are active in supporting the use of survey data in research, both through training and through support to the archiving and curation of South African survey data – the latter through membership of the External Advisory Board of DataFirst (based at the University of Cape Town). Access to international survey datasets is facilitated through membership of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) based at the University of Michigan in the United States. NALSU has also been instrumental in partnering with DataFirst to digitise the data gathered during the Keiskammahoek Rural Survey, which was a key survey undertaken by Rhodes University in the 1950s. It has also worked with the Rhodes University Library to acquire the Labour Research Service (LRS) archive and the Vuyisile Mini archive.

NALSU is increasingly focused on academic publishing, even when undertaking commissioned research, as can be seen from its growing list of academic publications. In addition to journal articles and chapters in books, NALSU staff members have been working on four academic books as sole authors or editors (edited books also include chapters by the editors). The following book was published in June 2018:

- Reynolds, J., 2018. Development planning in South Africa: Provincial policy and state power in the Eastern Cape. London:Zed Books.

The following two books are scheduled for release in late 2018 and early 2019:

- Rogan, M., ed. (In Press). Post-Schooling Educational Trajectories and the Labour Market in South Africa. Pretoria: HSRC Press.

- Reynolds, J., Fine, B. and Van Niekerk, R., eds. (In Press). Race, class and the post-apartheid South African State. Scottsville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.

More detailed information on the research interests of core staff members and NALSU Associates can be found in the profiles of individual team members.