But rising labour costs are starting to cause broader issues than just the stress levels of employers.
There is near universal agreement among economists that the labour market is too tight.
Labour costs are rising and are projected to rise further .
Yes. that means higher wages - on the surface a good thing for workers.
But when wages are driven purely by lack of labour supply - as opposed to improved productivity and profit - costs tend to be passed on in prices.
A wage-price spiral is threatening to embed itself in the economy, extending inflation pain even as global shipping and commodity prices return to earth.
Central banks are required to keep inflation in check and the only tools they have to do this hit the demand side of the economy. Interest rates rise, consumers have less cash to spend, business slows and, eventually, firms don't need as many workers.
That eventually means higher unemployment as people lose their jobs.
So it's natural that we should look to migrant labour - skilled and unskilled to ease the pressure.
That's the way we did it for years leading up to the pandemic. New Zealand had record net migration gains through to 2019.
Of course, that brought its own problems - lack of investment led to a housing shortage and a squeeze on roads and other infrastructure.
The Labour Government has had ambitions to revise immigration settings, tightening criteria to target skilled workers and be less reliant on mass arrivals.
There is research to suggest this can lift productivity by putting pressure on employers to invest in local skills training and better technology.
It's not an unreasonable policy approach but it has been derailed by Covid.
Suddenly, the developed world faces a worker shortage and New Zealand finds itself competing for skilled immigrants with countries like Australia, Canada, the UK and US.
Compounding things, Immigration NZ has itself struggled with staff shortages and limited capacity to process work visas.
We need more immigrants to head off the skills shortage, spiralling wages and inflation.
So the Government should be commended for pragmatic changes introduced last week.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood has announced changes allowing additional workers to enter the country for sectors affected by international labour shortages.
Those sectors include aged care, construction and infrastructure, meat processing, seafood, seasonal snow and adventure tourism.
The rules have doubled the Working Holiday Scheme cap for 2022/23 and will see an extra 12,000 working holiday makers able to enter New Zealand.
If the Government is reluctant to abandon its broader immigration strategy, despite the global headwinds it faces, short-term measures like these will help.
More may be needed but now the most important thing will be efficient execution - providing the resources and lifting the performance of Immigration NZ to get workers into the country with the settings already in place.
