ZIPHO SIKHAKHANE

Everyone knows at least one unemployed person they can help

STATS SA announced this week that the national unemployment figure for the third quarter of this year sits at 27.1% — half a percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

According to the IMF, this is the worst rate South Africa has seen in 13 years.

This statistic is a wake-up call. Any economy with this kind of joblessness should be focused on implementing drastic measures to stop rising unemployment and reverse the trend — especially at a time when ratings agencies have us under the microscope.

Much action has been taken over the years to address this issue, yet the unemployment gap continues to widen. Each time, public and private research institutions come up with recommendations on how to address the problem. Often, these focus on what needs to be done about the big structural problems our economy faces, such as education, income disparities and skills shortages.

Some stakeholders have even asked for legislative amendments, such as making the right to work a constitutional right. Others have demanded a complete restructuring of the economy.

Whether these grand ideas are the right ones to implement is irrelevant as grand ideas can take years before they have a noticeable effect. Often, they rely on a strong sense of collaboration among different stakeholders with varied interests, which is a big hurdle for multiple stakeholders to sustain over long periods of time.

Something has to change in terms of how we address the challenge of unemployment.

The solution I would like to propose is based on the myth about China and its large population. The myth goes that, if all the people in China jumped up and down at the same time, the earth would move. It illustrates the magnitude of the impact a nation can have when individuals take a small action simultaneously. They can move the world.

In South Africa, we have examples of initiatives that have been successful in affirming the viability of this way of thinking. Operation Hydrate is one such initiative that played a major role in assisting communities affected by the recent drought. The 67-minutes-doing-good campaign held on Nelson Mandela Day each year is another example of a local initiative that has grown into a worldwide phenomenon.

Similarly, let us consider taking small actions simultaneously in the spirit of addressing unemployment. Forget about waiting for grand ideas to take effect.

After all, we do not have to look far to find an unemployed person we could assist. Everyone knows at least one person who is part of the unemployment statistics. Beyond sharing our motivation and emotional support, we should be taking the small actions required to help them escape unemployment. Count it as an early Christmas gift to them, if you have to.

It can be anything from help with career guidance, résumé writing, referrals and networking to practise interviews. You do not need to be a qualified HR professional to help people with these.

Beyond just finding jobs for them, we should be helping them create jobs for themselves and others. This country needs job creators — especially now that we know the majority of new jobs required are going to come from expanding the role of small and medium enterprises.

It is high time we turned our job seekers into job creators.

It is these kinds of high-impact actions that will lead us to see an improvement in numbers the next time Stats SA releases unemployment statistics.

But the actions we take should not be once-off initiatives. This solution can work only if we consistently take small actions that make a difference.

Perhaps our New Year’s resolution lists need to go beyond just personal goals and include a section referred to as “my gift to my country”, which are the small actions we take to address the unemployment challenge.

Let us take the actions that are needed to make sure that future generations are not crippled by the challenges we could have fixed today.

Sikhakhane is an international speaker and an executive at Circle Food Group, with a business honours degree from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from Stanford University