Employment in South Africa showed a significant peak in the month of November, having risen at an annualised rate of 4.4%, according to the Adcorp Employment Index released on Thursday.
During November alone, the economy added 70 502 jobs, Adcorp said in a statement.
During September, October and November the economy added 112 473 jobs, reversing the decline of 82 431 jobs in the four months to August.
"Temporary work continued to outperform the other categories, adding 43 344 jobs during the month... strong growth of 7.4% was achieved in agency work."
The transport sector saw employment growing at 14.9%, with wholesale and retail following at a rate of 10.3%.
Mining and manufacturing continued to shed jobs, losing 31 000 jobs in the month.
According to Adcorp Holdings labour economist Loane Sharp, the November Index highlighted South Africa's labour laws.
"The results are unfavourable with minimum wages in agriculture and mining together with dismissal protections throughout the economy, having caused 1.5 million job losses across various sectors since 2001.
"The current round of tightening of labour laws will exacerbate this trend."
Sharp said the high rate of job losses within the agriculture and mining sector had been fast-tracked by the introduction of minimum wages introduced in the 1990s.
"The sectors with the highest job losses were adversely affected by minimum wage laws, which raised wages above their market-related levels."
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