The latest ANZ Job Ads series showed total job ads lifted 1.6% in March, on top of a small increase in February.
Job ads were 17.7% higher than a year ago, on a three-month average.
ANZ senior economist Sharon Zollner said the ongoing high level of job ads indicated a strong labour market, although the pace of growth had recently flattened.
Auckland was the strongest of the largest centres but the largest centres were being outclassed by regions, she said.
All of the 11 less-urbanised regions were experiencing stronger annual job ad growth than either Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch.
The job growth in Otago came as no surprise to Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan who had been talking up the market in the region for months.
''This is ongoing good news about being in business in Dunedin and Otago. We are 'top of the pops' again in another measure.
''What we know is that in Dunedin, in particular, many jobs never get advertised. People get tapped on the shoulder, the job is never on the books. These figures are just the tip of the iceberg.''
Dunedin, and parts of Otago, had an undercover job market because people did not want to be seen doing too well, he said.
Businesses were doing ''amazing things'' but did not want a public profile. However, they were growing their businesses and taking on one or two people a year.
There was growth in Dunedin's IT sector but very few knew who those successful companies were, Mr McGowan said.
Because of the demand, it made Dunedin attractive to recruiting talented people to the city.
''We know we are getting the best quality people. While IT is strong in the city, we have to find new and better ways to use our gigatown advantage.''
Chorus yesterday confirmed Dunedin was way out in front as New Zealand's fastest city for broadband after winning the Chorus Gigatown competition. The city has an average connection speed of 196Mbps.
Ms Zollner said nationally, the construction, manufacturing and transport sector remains the largest sectoral driver of total job ads growth. The service sector was also contributing strongly.
The current strength of labour demand flagged unemployment heading below 5% later this year, with accompanying modestly stronger wage growth.
The economic cycle was maturing and growth was harder to win off a high level.
''There is still plenty of demand for staff. Firms are reporting finding staff is a significant constraint on their growth,'' she said.
