There are suggestions the extent of our shortage in skilled labourers could have opened up space for illegal workers to infiltrate the construction sector.

It comes after nearly 200 illegal workers from Malaysia were deported or stopped at the border during an Immigration swoop.

Many worked under the table as third-tier subcontractors.

The Specialist Trade Contractors Association says law-abiding companies can't compete with the prices under-the-table workers might offer.

And president Graham Burke says they're already struggling to get the staff numbers they need and making it easier for legit companies to bring labour into the country could minimise issues around illegal workers

"It makes me quite angry actually because the vast majority of the businesses in the sector are law-abiding, they are playing plenty of tax, they are training young New Zealanders.

"If Immigration NZ was able to make the process a little bit simpler for good employers it may mean that the market wouldn't encourage this kind of behaviour."

(Source: Newstalk ZB Staff)