The number of jobs being advertised has gone up, after a big decline at the start of the year.
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ANZ's job ads index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in February, after a 3 percent fall the month before.
Hawke's Bay continued to pick-up pace, followed by Auckland, but Canterbury's labour market had softened.
Demand in the capital was steady.
ANZ senior economist Sharon Zollner said the data for the first two months of the year suggested employers were more cautious.
"The New Zealand economy has considerable momentum.
"However, headwinds are strengthening - the cooling evident in job ads growth so far in 2016 suggests employers are paying attention to emerging risks," she said.
ANZ job advertising data highlights:
Job ads lifted 0.9 percent in February (seasonally adjusted). Advertising was up 0.4 percent versus a year ago, on a three month average.
Internet job ads also lifted 0.9 percent (seasonally adjusted) in the month; annual growth eased to 3.4 percent.
Newspaper job advertising lifted 1.0 percent, after dropping almost 20 percent in January. Year-on-year, newspaper ads are down 23.8 percent.
On a three-month average, Auckland job ads are up 7.0 percent on a year ago (up 2.5 percent month-on-month); Canterbury adverts are down 16.5 percent (down 5.0 percent month-on-month); and Wellington down 1.9 percent (down 1.5 percent month-on-month).
In the smaller centres, job ads are up 17.7 percent year-on-year in Hawke's Bay; down 3.5 percent in Waikato; down 2.4 percent in Manawatu; and up 3.5 percent in Otago.
