The number of filled jobs in New Zealand remained flat in October last year, although it did rise slightly from October 2010, the government statistics agency said Tuesday.

The national employment indicator showed that the number of filled jobs held by wage and salary earners was down 0.2 percent from September last year, according to the National Employment Indicator released by Statistics New Zealand.

However, the number was up 0.9 percent, or 17,099 jobs, from October 2010.

"Since the significant increase in August 2011, we have seen two months of little change in the number of filled jobs," Statistics New Zealand industry and labor statistics manager Diane Ramsay said in a statement.

"However, the annual increase shows that there are more jobs filled than there were in October 2010."

The number of filled jobs has been rising every month since May 2010, with the year-on-year rise peaking at 1.5 percent, or 27,776 jobs, in August last year.

The number fell every month from December 2008 to April 2010.

At its peak in November 2010, the number of filled jobs stood at 1,957,589, but in October last year it was only at 1,914,953.