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Studies of science emphasize the importance of the years of doctoral training, and the period immediately after, in shaping the interests and careers of new researchers. Moreover, personal interactions and institutional contexts have been underlined as key factors in explaining the development of academic careers. Nonetheless, these aspects have received limited attention in the history of economics. In this article, we analyze the establishment and development of the Columbia Labour Workshop, which was established in the early 1960s by Gary Becker and Jacob Mincer. This workshop had a major impact on the development of human capital theory and neoclassical labor economics, notably due to its role in the training of young academics who passed through Columbia, whether doctoral students, visiting academics, or researchers who joined the workshop. The analysis will detail the history of the workshop, mapping individuals and topics of research, and place it in the context of training in labor economics at that time. We will reflect on the factors that contributed to its success in the 1960s and early 1970s and its subsequent decline in the late 1970s.