Premium
Innovation and the local workforce
Author(s) -
Maré David C.,
Fabling Richard,
Stillman Steven
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2012.00479.x
Subject(s) - workforce , census , business , immigration , labour economics , demographic economics , workforce development , workforce planning , economics , economic growth , geography , sociology , population , demography , archaeology
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 relationship for selected subgroups of firms. We find a positive relationship between local workforce characteristics and average innovation outcomes in labour market areas, but this is accounted for by variation in firm characteristics such as firm size, industry, and research and development expenditure. Controlling for these influences, we find no systematic evidence of an independent link between local workforce characteristics and innovation.