New Zealand entered an economic downturn in the first quarter of 2008, which was prolonged by the global financial crisis later that year. The labor market recovery was slow until 2013, when net immigration, employment growth, and unemployment declines all picked up. Labor market liquidity has...

We combine firm-level innovation data with area-level Census data to examine the relationship between local workforce characteristics, especially the presence of immigrants and local skills, and the likelihood of innovation by firms. We examine a range of innovation outcomes, and test the...