The ISS is composed of two research centers known as the Business and Economics Research Center and the Center for Social Sciences. It encourages and coordinates interdisciplinary research studies covering various fields in the social sciences, such as business administration and economics. Under the GNU’s Long-Term Development Plan, the ISS has been tasked to specialize in labor issues. In 2001, the institute was appointed as a leading research center and has been supported by the Korea Research Foundation to carry out the largest joint research project on labor relations of the southeast coast industrial belt in Korea.