SOURCES OF LABOUR FOR INNOVATION

Businesses may seek and use a range of labour when undertaking innovation and they may source this labour from within Australia and overseas. Businesses which had undertaken innovative activity were asked from where they had sourced labour for the development or introduction of new goods, services, processes or methods. Businesses could report more than one source of labour and a ranking of importance was not requested.

Sources of labour for innovation(a)(b), by location, by source, 2008 - 09
		Within Australia	From overseas	Any location
		%	%	%
Persons already within the business or related company		81.1	2.3	81.7
Employed:
	new graduates	5.5	0.5	5.7
	other new persons	18.3	1.1	18.7
Contracted out work to/used consultants from:
	higher education or research institutions	3.2	0.1	3.2
	other organisations	15.8	0.8	16.5
Persons employed by the business's collaboration partners		11.1	0.8	11.5
(a) Proportions are of innovation-active businesses.
(b) Businesses could identify more than one source of labour or location.

Sourcing labour from overseas for the purpose of innovation appears to be a relatively uncommon practice for innovation-active Australian businesses. By far the majority of innovation-active businesses sourced labour for innovative activities from within Australia, most commonly from persons already within the business or related company (81%). Contracted out work to/used consultants from higher education or research institutions from within Australia was reported by 3% of innovation-active businesses.

Australian sources of labour for innovation(a)(b), by employment size, 2008 - 09
		0-4 persons	5-19 persons	20-199 persons	200 or more persons	Total
		%	%	%	%	%
Persons already within the business or related company		82.5	79.1	81.0	92.5	81.1
Employed:
	new graduates	3.8	6.8	7.6	12.9	5.5
	other new persons	12.4	24.3	22.5	33.8	18.3
Contracted out work to/used consultants from:
	higher education or research institutions	2.4	3.5	4.8	7.8	3.2
	other organisations	14.5	15.5	20.6	33.7	15.8
Persons employed by the business's collaboration partners		12.7	9.9	8.4	9.8	11.1
(a) Proportions are of innovation-active businesses in each employment size category.
(b) Businesses could identify more than one source of labour within Australia.

Employed new graduates from within Australia for purposes of innovation was most commonly reported by businesses with 200 or more persons employed (13%), compared to businesses with 0-4 persons employed (4%). However, businesses employing 0-4 persons were more likely to use persons employed by their collaboration partners (13%) than those in other employment size ranges.

Innovation-active businesses in the Accommodation and food services industry were most likely to employ other new persons (30%), while businesses in Mining and Professional, scientific and technical services (both 8%) were the most likely to employ new graduates within Australia to undertake innovative activities. Contracting out work to/used consultants from higher education or research institutions was most prevalent in the Mining industry (9%).

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