Fryer began his research career studying social image and segregation, and then moved toward empirical issues, particularly those concerning race and ethnicity.

His work on the racial achievement gap in the US led to a stint as chief equality officer for New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in which role Fryer implemented a pilot program rewarding low-income students with money for earning high test scores.

In 2019, Harvard suspended Fryer without pay for two years, closed his lab, and barred him from teaching or supervising students citing allegations of improper conduct.

[9] He graduated in 1998 with a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in economics in two-and-a-half years of study while working full time at a McDonalds drive-thru.

Professor Fryer both inspired and oversaw the Opportunity NYC project, which studied how students in low-performing schools respond to financial incentives, offering as much as $500 for "doing well on standardized tests and showing up for class.

"[12] In 2009, Fryer formed the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University, and served as its director until its closure ten years later in 2019.

[15] Fryer began his research career as an applied theorist, developing models of social image[16] and measures of segregation.

[26] Nobel-laureate James Heckman and Steven Durlauf, both University of Chicago economists, published a response to the Fryer study, writing that the paper "does not establish credible evidence on the presence or absence of discrimination against African Americans in police shootings" due to issues with selection bias.

[29] In March 2018, Harvard barred Fryer from his research lab, the Education Innovation Laboratory (EdLabs), upon launching an investigation into Title IX complaints against him alleging sexual harassment.

[32] The investigation found that he had made references over text to various colleagues engaging in sex acts according to the New York Times, though no physical actions were alleged.

[34] This recommendation for training was passed to a panel of Harvard tenured faculty including Lawrence D. Bobo and Claudine Gay.

[35] In a letter to The New York Times later that month, Fryer expressed regret for having "allowed, encouraged and participated" in a collegial atmosphere at EdLabs that included "off-color jokes".