The number of job ads rose last month for the first time since July - but conditions remain tough for those looking for a job.

The Seek Employment Report shows ads rose 1 percent in November, though applications per job ad also rose 3 percent month on month.

"While demand for workers in most industries has declined throughout the year there are some that have bucked the trend, notably banking & financial Services where ad volumes have boomed over the past two months," Seek country manager Rob Clark said.

Growth in the industrial and construction sectors drove a large portion of the overall rise in November.

"There were nominal month-on-month rises in Wellington, Canterbury and Auckland which solidifies a period of relative stability for these regions over the past five months, after over a year of broad decline."

But most of the largest hiring industries declined month on month including healthcare & medical (down 7 percent) and information & communication technology (down 6 percent).

The Seek quarterly report on advertised salaries showed there was a 3.1 percent quarterly rise in the three months ended in November, or 3.1 percent on the year.

"Although the rate of annual growth continued to slow, average advertised salaries continue to outpace the annual inflation rate," Clark said.

"Government and government-related industries were among those that grew the fastest, with education & training, government and healthcare & medical among those that outpaced inflation more than twice over."