One of the sectors facing a serious short-fall in skilled workers is the technology sector. A recent industry report found the IT sector is over-reliant on overseas recruits, and isn't properly developing home grown talent.
Last week, Amazon's web arm last week announced an eight billion dollar plan to build data centres in Auckland by 2024, which it claims will create a thousand jobs and add nearly $11 billion to GDP over the next 15 years.
The plan still needs approval from the Overseas Investment Office. But a senior software consultant says there simply aren't the skilled people to fill 1000 new jobs in cloud computing.
Bruce Jarvis, Group Manager of Digital Services at Callaghan Innovation, says the Amazon plan could in fact constrain the growth of New Zealand export businesses.