There has been a 7 per cent decrease in employment locally in the last quarter of 2012.
Consumer confidence is also lower than for the rest of the country, and commercial construction slumped towards the end of the year.
A bright spot was the pickup in Northland house sales, suggesting the regional economy has some life left in it still.
The fastest growing regions gain the highest scoreboard ratings, and a good performance by the national economy has raised ratings across all regions.
Northland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Tony Collins said a recent report by chambers throughout the North Island signalled local business owners were feeling more positive.
"Interestingly, our business confidence survey which came out last week said that a lot of our business owners were actually feeling a lot more confident than they have in recent times.
"That was quite a marked improvement on their sense of where things were at."
However, the recently declared drought was bound to have a detrimental effect on the local economy, he said.
"Last time there was a major drought here that did have a big impact on the Northland economy, we lost a substantial amount of money."
Employment had continued to be a problem in Northland, however, recent initiatives by Careers NZ and the Ministry of Social Development were working to change that, Mr Collins said.
Nationally, Auckland once again topped the rankings, supported by strong population growth and a buoyant housing market.
Canterbury took out second spot with rebuilding activity sparking the local economy back into life.
Waikato, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Otago also moved up the scoreboard - while Manawatu-Wanganui languished at the bottom.
There were 41,091 new cars registered nationally in the quarter.
