The Eastern Cape cannot afford to treat its unemployment crisis as another statistic. At 47.5%, the province has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
The quarterly labour force results released on Tuesday show this.
Millions of people are looking for work, while the number of employed people has fallen sharply over the past year.
The most telling figure is perhaps that the labour force grew by 160,000 people in just three months, while employment increased by only 13,000.
That is the challenge in a nutshell.
More people are willing and able to work, but the economy is not creating jobs quickly enough to absorb them.
There is no shortage of discussion about what needs to be done.
The government talks about attracting investment, fixing infrastructure, improving skills and creating a better environment for business.
All of these things matter. But more can be done, and the urgency needs to match the scale of the crisis.
Creating jobs must become the focal point of economic policy in the Eastern Cape.
That means asking a simple question of every major government decision. Will this help create or protect jobs?
It means removing the delays that frustrate businesses and investors. It means making sure water, electricity, roads and other basic infrastructure work.
It means using government procurement to create opportunities for local businesses and ensure small companies can grow.
It also means protecting the jobs we already have.
The province’s automotive sector has been a powerful economic engine for decades. Its difficulties are therefore not simply an industry problem. They are an Eastern Cape problem.
At the same time, the province needs to broaden its economic base and turn its considerable assets in manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, tourism and energy into real investment and real employment.
Skills development is important, but training people for jobs that do not exist is not enough.
Investment announcements are welcome, but announcements do not pay salaries.
What matters is getting projects off the ground and businesses expanding.
The province has people who want to work. It has businesses that want to grow. It has major economic assets.
Job creation must stop being one item on the economic agenda. It must become the agenda.
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