ANY state intervention in the economy must have a job-centred focus, with specific emphasis on the education system and skills development in South Africa, the Federation of Unions of SA says.

The union federation's comments came at a time when the ANC's national executive committee was discussing a report by a task team on nationalisation.

"Fedusa will only support state intervention in the economy if such interventions are based on empirical research and sound planning processes," it stated on Friday.

It was also "optimistic" that the task team's report would be made public.

"Job creation should be at the heart of all our interventions; there is a serious need to massively increase the demand for labour in our country, while committing sufficient resources to infrastructure and investment so that SA can retain and increase its competitive advantage in the global market."

Fedusa said all economic policies had to be aimed at stability and growing the economy.

It believed that in order to look at the possibility of the implementation of nationalisation, the concept had to be defined and all possible consequences of this action had to be explored and weighed.

After participating in the state intervention in the minerals sector briefing session last year, Fedusa hosted its own panel discussion on nationalisation and state intervention in August, followed by a further engagement at its fifth national congress.

"We believe that it is important for both the federation and our government to have a clear position on the concept of nationalisation since political uncertainty is negatively affecting South Africa's socio-economic climate."