An economist says we can expect to see the crippling worker shortage continue.
Employers are struggling to fill vacancies but some are going back to old ways to get the staff they need.
On Saturday thousands of people who wanted a career at Christchurch Airport turned up for its job fair.
It was a slightly old-fashioned initiative to fill the severe worker shortage.
"The first person arrived at five past seven this morning for a 9 o'clock opening and then the queue just built and built and built," Christchurch Airport's Yvonne Densem told Newshub.
Air New Zealand's Rachel Lilley said the airline has many roles for people to fill.
"Across the airline as all together, we've hundreds and hundreds of roles, for us here locally in Christchurch, I'm looking for 50-60 people."
Hotel manager James Wilson said they also had vacancies.
"Ahh I wouldn't say desperate… but we are needing good people, yes absolutely."
The Christchurch-based event came off the back of a similar successful venture at Auckland Airport.
Christchurch wanted to run a job fair to help fill hundreds of vacancies because job ads aren't cutting it.
"It's been a really rough few years, especially for the aviation industry," Aviation Security's Kate Herdman said.
It's not just the aviation industry struggling to fill roles, employers are struggling across the board.
"We haven't seen job fairs like this for quite a while. It's not a usual occurrence, so the fact that we are seeing more of them pop up highlights not only how difficult it is to find workers but the fact that there are so many roles on offer - it's not just one or two, not just a handful, it is hundreds," Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen told Newshub.
And with the unemployment rate at 3.3 percent he's expecting that to continue.
"It's going to remain really difficult to find workers still over the next few months."
The Government's eased immigration rules to allow thousands of lower-paid migrants to fill roles. But that doesn't change overnight and the need is now.
Wilson said it has been hard for business but the success of Saturday's job fair has got him feeling hopeful.
"Tough, really tough but after seeing today I'm really energised about what's coming through the door so it's good to see."
Employers hope events like this work so they don't have to turn to alternatives.
