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Finance Minister Bill English has promised that the government will implement the most effective ideas from the job summit in Auckland.
English told 200 invited participants - dominated by business heavyweights - that the government is serious about engaging with business.
Ideas that came from the summit to create jobs will be considered just like any ministerial budget bid and those "that met the hurdle of effectiveness would be seriously considered".
English says there is "some head room" in his late May budget for the new ideas.
The audience was told over a working lunch that while there will have to be ongoing restraint in government spending, there will also need to be wider acceptance that change in response to the global meltdown will be coming and it too will be permanent.
Not all jobs can be protected, but the government is determined to ensure that new jobs are created.
English says that in 2007 - when the economy was doing well - there was still a loss of 213,000 jobs in New Zealand, but 250,000 new jobs were created.
The government needs advice from business about how to be more responsive during times of economic crisis and English says under the leadership of Prime Minister John Key the government will take a pragmatic approach to policy making.
English has commended the approach taken by those at the summit, saying it shows business leaders have changed from a complain and hope attitude taken in the past to one of taking more responsibility.
Ideas from subsidising new home buyers to constructing a cycleway the length of New Zealand have been floated at the job summit.
Ideas flow in
Key said he was open to suggestions and he received them.
The ground rules were laid out from the start by summit chairman Mark Weldon who said that to make the grade, ideas would have to both create jobs and increase economic activity.
They would also have to make an impact within two years or sooner.
Key is said to favour a nine-day working fortnight, but it is likely to be targeted and limited to specific industries and companies facing a downturn in work.
On the 10th day the government could pay for training or community work by underworked staff, with a suggested cap of $80 million for coverage of up to 20,000 workers.
The idea of building a cycleway the length of New Zealand to create jobs and boost tourism numbers is also said to have received a favourable response from Key.
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard told the summit he is ready to lower interest rates further if that is necessary to combat the impact of the international recession.
"We are facing the biggest destruction of global wealth ever," Bollard told participants.
New Zealand's banking sector is sound, but he issued a warning.
The banks made good profits in the good times, and they are expected to help out in the bad times, he says.
The banks should not underestimate the level of corporate anger that existed because of the onerous lending conditions imposed on businesses.
Key says the country is better placed than most to weather the worst international recession in their lifetime.
But New Zealand is going to feel the flow on effect and jobs will be lost.
"Our job today is not to promise the impossible," he says.
"But we can all play a part in lessening the blow."
