this study examines the impact of innovation strategies on employment growth in four latin american countries (argentina, chile, costa rica, and uruguay) using micro-data for manufacturing firms from innovation surveys. building on the model proposed by harrison et al. (2008), we relate employment to three innovation strategies: make only (r&d), buy only (external r&d, licensing of patents and know-how, technical assistance, and other external innovation activities) and make and buy (mixed strategy). firms that conduct in-house innovation activities ("make only") have the greatest impact on employment; the "make and buy" strategy comes in second. similar results are found for small firms. these results highlight the importance of fostering in-house technological efforts not only for innovation per se, but also to promote growth in firm employment. the impact of "make only" strategies is greater in high-tech industries, whereas "make only" and "make and buy" have a similar impact on ...