Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has hinted tweaks to the country's immigration settings could be on the cards.
New Zealand currently has dire workforce shortages with the unemployment rate sitting at just 3.3 percent.
While the Government has made efforts to attract international talent the country is competing with several other major players due to a post-pandemic global worker shortage.
But on AM on Monday the Prime Minister revealed changes aimed at attracting more workers could be on the way.
"Obviously we need to wait for Cabinet today…but one of the things we will be discussing is just a little look at some of the settings that we have," Ardern told AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green.
"When I say settings, not broadly, we are looking more at are there particular areas of pressure for certain sectors where it will be easier potentially to attract people or simpler to attract people into those roles.
"One of the issues we have at the moment is we've got currently 90,000 roles that employers are able to go out and actively recruit offshore skills into, we've got 40,000 working holiday visas able to come into the country. Globally there is a shortage so it's all about the attraction so we will be thinking a little bit about that today."
But Ardern wouldn't reveal any details about which industries will be the focus. She did, however, acknowledge the health workforce is an area that has seen a lot of competition for workers globally.
"What can we do to make sure that we are attractive? And that's the same for a number of sectors," she said.
The Prime Minister's comments come as the tourism and hospitality sectors gear up for an influx of visitors over the summer period - but there are ongoing concerns the sectors won't have enough staff.
Immigration has been a hot-button issue for the Government with opposition parties regularly attacking it over its policies.
Most recently ACT leader David Seymour revealed his Party would scrap temporary work visas and instead make employers pay a fee if they choose to hire someone from overseas.
The announcement was part of ACT's immigration policy which it said will help bring talented workers into the country with "minimal rigmarole".
