Our Research

Firm performance and labour dynamics

Motu's research on firm performance and labour dynamics addresses questions such as whether whether a worker is full time or part time has an effect on their relative earnings, and whether this effect is primarily linked to workers or firms. We have also looked at the relationship between overall employment growth in New Zealand and wage increases between 1999 and 2007, and the effects of changes to youth minimum wage legislation in the same period.

Motu’s labour market research makes use of a Statistics New Zealand data set, the Linked Employer-Employee Database (LEED). LEED contains longitudinal data collected via tax records for workers and firms in all sectors of the economy.

Our research focus

Motu’s current and recent research into  firm performance and labour dynamics includes:

  • Looking into cyclical labour market adjustment to discover how economic downturns and recoveries affect the labour market experiences of workers and firms.
  • Investigating how knowledge flows between firms.

Publications