A boom in the number of people working past 65 is set to help drive New Zealand's labour workforce numbers towards 2030, Statistics New Zealand says.

The department on Friday said it predicts the country's total workforce to number 3 million people by 2030 and 3.5m by 2068. Currently, it sits at 2.6m.

That growth would be driven by increasing population, but also more people working into older age.
In 1991, people over 65 only made up about 1 percent of the total pool of workers, while today it's at 6 percent.

By the late 2020s, that number is now projected to reach 9 percent, Stats NZ said.

"We are also seeing more people aged 50 and over in the labour force," population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said.

The current participation rate for people in their 50s was 85 percent, but would jump to 88 percent by 2038 and 89 percent by 2068, he said.

For those in their 60s, it was expected to go from 59 percent in 2017 to 64 percent by 2038.

"In the long term, slower population growth and our increasingly older age structure will slow labour force growth, providing the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation remains the same," Mr Dolan said.

The labour force includes both employed and unemployed people.