Abstract: This paper examines the role of and impact of the skilled migration program and international education sector on Melbourne’s burgeoning knowledge economy throughout the 2000s. The growing movement of professionals, or knowledge workers, around the world has been interpreted as one consequence of globalisation (Appadurai 1996), with researchers such as Sachar (2006) noting a global ‘race for talent’ has developed, whereby nations such as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom attempt to attract knowledge workers through international education and skilled migration policies and programs.

Accountancy professionals are used as a case study in this paper to examine the causes behind the growth of knowledge workers within the city’s economy and labour market. The research examines the labour market outcomes within Melbourne for accountants over the 2000s, ascertaining the extent to which new entrants into this key profession were supplied locally (as graduates of the Australian higher education system) or globally (via Australia’s skilled migration system), following the vast growth in qualified migrant accountants in the mid-2000s. The study concludes that national policies regarding skilled migration and international education provision have had the greatest impact on knowledge worker labour supply for Melbourne and its economy.