Regional labour markets remain the strongest in the country and nine of them are showing double-digit growth, according to the ANZ Job Ads survey.
The West Coast is top of the annual job growth table at 27.9, Southland is on 18.1 and Otago on 14.9
In contrast, Canterbury is 7.8, Wellington is 0.8 and Auckland just 0.5.
Gisborne was the only region to show negative figures at -9.9.
ANZ economist statistician Kyle Uerata said yesterday the New Zealand monthly index for job advertisements fell 1.2% in February from January.
Total job advertisements in February were 43,587, down from 44,104 in January.
Annual growth eased to 5.8% from 5.9% in January. As the economic cycle had matured, growth in job advertisements had eased to a more gradual pace, in contrast to the breakneck pace set during 2016.
``We are not surprised to see job ads fall back to their more modest growth trend as the labour market is tight and skilled labour, in particular, difficult to come by.''
The annual growth rate of 5.8% was consistent with the ANZ forecast of moderating employment growth, he said.
The construction, utilities, manufacturing and transport category made up about a third of the advertisements and had been an outsized driver of growth during the past five years.
The sector's advertisements fell an ``unusually sharp'' 4.9% in February and three-month growth had fallen to 2.8%, Mr Uerata said.
The fall followed two positive months and did not match up particularly well with anecdotal evidence.
``We'll be keeping a close eye on this highly cyclical sector. We expect growth in employment in this sector to continue to moderate - partly because of difficulty finding suitable employees.''
The labour market was tight and unemployment was at 4.5%. Surveys confirmed firms were having difficulty hiring people with the skills they needed, he said.
As business confidence improved, and the minimum wage increased, it was a case of wait and see.
