Our Research

Population & labour

Population economics refers to research on individuals, families, households, and communities. Labour economics focuses on the world of work and covers people as workers as well as how firms behave in their role as employers.

This area includes research on education, inequality, community functioning, population growth and decline, population ageing, population diversity, and migration.

Our research focus

Motu’s current and recent research focus includes:

  • Examining the pathways that students follow from school to life.
  • Whether immigrants’ lives improve after they arrive in NZ.
  • Impacts of immigration (and workforce composition more generally) on firm performance; and on non-immigrants.
  • Why people move within New Zealand.
  • How economic downturns and recoveries affect the labour market experiences of workers and firms.
  • How knowledge flows between firms.

Working Paper

Working Paper

Working Paper

Related Websites

Motu is affiliated with the University of Waikato’s National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis (NIDEA).