As businesses across multiple industries indicate they're being hampered by skills shortages, it's estimated more than 100,000 overseas workers remain for visa processing.
Anthony Albanese said while additional staff had been brought in to deal with the large backlog, more needed to be done.
"It's a hopeless situation that we inherited. We have put considerable resources into additional staff to get these visas processed," he told Sydney radio 2GB on Wednesday.
"How frustrating is it that there are people who want to come here who've been waiting in the queue, some for more than a year, but their visa can't be processed?"
The government has indicated it is considering raising the cap on skilled migration in order to solve workplace shortage across several key industries.
While the current cap sits at 160,000, there is speculation it could be lifted to 180,000 or even 200,000.
Shortages of skilled workers from overseas, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are set to be among the areas of discussion at the government's jobs and skills summit in Canberra next week.
Mr Albanese said while there had been a large backlog, there was movement on the issue.
"We're working as fast as we can to deal with this," he said.
"Of course, with visas, you do have to have checks, you can't just have open borders, so they do need to be processed, but we're working as quickly as we possibly can."
The prime minister indicated cuts to the public service by the previous government had led to a lack of resources for processing visas.
Mr Albanese said the way skilled workers were brought into the country to fill vacancies also needed to be examined.
"We bring in temporary migrants in areas where there are skill shortages and then we get rid of them and then we get new temporary migrants in to fill those same jobs - that to me doesn't make any sense," he said.
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said a migration system targeted to meet labour market needs was part of the former government's five-pronged approach to addressing workforce shortages.
This also included removing barriers to work and equipping Australians with the skills needed to participate in the modern workforce.
Speaking to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday night, Ms Ley warned participants that the Labor government was "not a friend" of business.
"Their instincts are to always back what the unions want first," she said.
In the lead-up to the summit, the federal opposition is calling for an increase to the amount pensioners and veterans can earn before their payments are docked.
"This would allow pensioners to work two full days at the minimum wage without impacting on pension rates," she said.
Such a policy has not been ruled out by the government.
Ms Ley also voiced her concerns about the departmentally housed Jobs and Skills Australia to replace the independent National Skills Commission.
"It is really important that we have an independent statutory body with an industry board to provide independent and expert advice on Australia's workforce needs."
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