But it is only part of the picture, according to recruiters who talk of a sector that is pumped-up and "feel-good" like never before.
"The demand from Covid is huge," said Troy Turner of the Recruitment, Consulting and Staffing Association.
"There's a large volume, probably an unprecedented volume of programmes, projects, and initiatives under way, with Covid being probably the mechanism, but also a government with the funding and now the mandate."
'It's popular'
Demand means dollars, but with the money comes meaning.
"Right now, Ashley Bloomfield has a T-shirt that people are willing to wear. So it's popular," Turner said.
"They're doing really interesting work... they are there for social purpose."
A time of high demand and deep uncertainty about how many hands the agencies need for which new jobs, and for how long, is fuelling a mini-boom especially in Wellington - and rates at the top end of $2000-$3000 a day - though not across the board.
A third of the 30 agencies told RNZ they don't employ any Covid contractors at all, even when they have set up new pandemic teams, such as the two at the Public Service Commission or Oranga Tamariki's new national Incident Management team.
Others like Corrections and Customs spent a little, just $250,000 each.
Big spenders
Still others have rapidly set up new teams, and also spent a lot - the Health Ministry spent $12.8m on Covid contractors for the 2020-21 financial year; the less-essential Culture and Heritage Ministry, $10m total by the time it wraps up its pandemic teams this year.
This ministry is unusual for having its pandemic response dominated by contractors, who have made up half or three-quarters of its Covid workforce.
It was paying its Covid programme director $2000 a day for 14 months, and had contractors in charge of five Covid teams.
The ministry says it had a great deal to do in very little time, to help support over 1500 artists and organisations, and boost events and venues.
The public sector Covid contracts are typically for a few months work.
"Not all of that is bad," Turner said.
"Because you can't see a natural end, you can't put a permanent person into a three-month piece of work, or if you do, you have to backfill that person."
At the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield's 1000-strong ministry, things have yo-yoed - from 70 Covid contractors last year, to 123 in March this year making up 40 per cent of its main pandemic team, to 38 now.
It was $5m under budget, at $12.8m at mid-year.
"All efforts have been made to transition contractors to permanent/fixed-term employment arrangements," the Health Ministry told RNZ.
Ministry of Social Development (MSD) initially said it used no contractors at all on Covid.
It revised this to say it hired 118 last year, and a further 88 this year - but how much it spent is not clear, though likely several million.
It faced "unprecedented demand" for "essential services", MSD told RNZ.
Te Puni Kokiri, meantime, spent $2.3m on 33 contracts, some with community organisations to run vaccine awareness campaigns, but half of it on three of the big consultant firms - EY, PWC and Deloitte.
PWC charged TPK up to $3500 a day.
Another consultant - who are basically contractors given more free rein - charged DoC $2800 a day.
Individual contractors more typically collect $1000 a day, but can get up to $250-$280 an hour.
Treasury spent $1.9m on 23 consultants across four or its six teams, at rates of between $45 and $200 an hour. It also spent another $2.7m on consultants.
Most of this total of $4.6m was spent in its Firm Support Directorate that operated from April last year till February, giving support to businesses.
Money and meaning
Contractors generally made 20-30 per cent more than employees, Turner said.
"People think it's money-related.
"But there's so much change, that if you had a passion ... you can live that out now, which is not always the case," he said.
"Lo and behold, there is a demand."
The pull factors were adding to a growing wedge of the labour market turning to temporary work, he added.
But there is 'push', too, from the three-year public sector partial pay freeze.
"To think that you might have to move jobs, or move organisations, to get a pay rise in the next three years, is quite disruptive," Turner said.
"That has made people consider contracting when they might not have."
The OIA figures are an underestimate; they may miss contractors who do some Covid work, but not all; and miss those who are brought in to cover for staff lost to pandemic duties.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade set up two new divisions for pandemic work but also added to four existing divisions, with resources not captured by the OIA even though some of what they do is "key to the ... recovery strategy".
Covid contractor numbers from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Education and Ministry for Primary Industries are either still awaited or incomplete.
