Read to the end for a South African solution to youth unemployment, why the price of performing at the Edinburgh Fringe is reducing creative risk taking, and how Mel Stride hopes to recruit more Deliveroo drivers. 

Morning team, 

Evie Breese here, on yet another overcast Wednesday morning, bringing you the week's top work news, insights and solutions. 

We know that when people are put in stable housing, can access the support and health services they need, and can send their children to school – they can learn the language, volunteer or find work to contribute to society like anyone else. Whether it’s asylum seekers, refugees or people experiencing homelessness, humans need communities to thrive. 

Why then, does the government wish to house more than 500 asylum seekers on a floating barge off the south coast of England?

“Many of these people will become recognised refugees, if they had their asylum case heard,” Genevieve Caston, director of UK Programmes at the International Rescue Committee told me. “But if you’re not able to actually interact with British citizens, how can you have any ability to integrate?”

Awaiting a decision on their application for refugee status in the cramped quarters of the Bibby Stockholm barge – with no British high streets to explore, no everyday interactions to practise their English, it’s hard not to see them as set up to fail. 

On the same day those first few asylum seekers boarded the Bibby Stockholm, I joined around 200 refugees from Afghanistan to celebrate their achievements graduating from courses hosted by the International Rescue Committee. Discussing the Bibby Stockholm, Muhammad Irshal Khad, an Afghan refugee who was relocated to the UK after the Taliban retook the country in 2021, suggested: “Why not house them in communities where there is a low population instead and give them documentation to work? It would be beneficial to both the asylum seekers and the communities."

In Afghanistan, Khad built houses for the British military. Two years later, and having completed the IRC's orientation course, which showed him how the British education system works alongside other essentials he needs to prosper in British society, he is set to achieve an MSC in construction and project management from the University of Portsmouth this September. 

It's hard to see how months on the Bibby Stockholm on his arrival to Britain could have set him up for such achievements.

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What you need to know about work this week:

Crackdown. Ministers have announced plans to sharply increase the fines for employers and landlords who provide work or housing to asylum seekers or undocumented migrants. Bosses found to be employing workers without legal immigration status will face initial fines of up to £45,000 for each person, while landlords could be forced to pay £5,000 for each lodger or £10,000 for each occupier.  

On yer bike. Over 50s should consider delivering takeaways, or taking up other flexible work traditionally done by younger people, if they want to maintain their standard of living into older age, work and pensions secretary Mel Strike has told The Times. He also suggested companies make older workers feel at home by avoiding engaging in political debates. 

Unintended consequences. A ministerial letter ordering South Cambridgeshire Council to halt its pilot of a four-day working week has “backfired”, after seven more councils registered their interest in shortening their week. This one’s from me for The Big Issue. 

Bad jokes. I’ve been thinking about this opinion piece from Soumaya Keynes for the FT all week. She asks whether bad vibes – think the mocking of Liz Truss battling to outlast a lettuce – could be having real, negative effects on the economy? (£)

Productivity problems. US researchers have found that fully remote work is associated with 10% to 20% lower productivity than fully in-person work, presenting bad news for those keen to ditch the office for good. Communicating remotely and lack of motivation were identified as the key challenges. 

Truth hurts. Global superstar and champion of female empowerment, Lizzo, is being sued by former dancers over allegations of a toxic work environment on tour, including, sexual and racial harassment, fat shaming, and one case of false imprisonment. Haven Orecchio-Egresitz spoke to three of the dancers for their story for Insider. 

Penny-pinching. What should living standards look like for people on different incomes? YouGov put 35 different expenses to the British public, asking what each group should be able to afford. With only 55% of Brits thinking everyone should be able to afford a television, the results make for sobering reading.

Strike watch

Senior doctors with the British Medical Association have announced another strike in September, following a two-day strike in late-August.

Take a look at our comprehensive list of upcoming strike dates.

A global solution 🇿🇦

South Africa has an overwhelmingly young population – more than half its inhabitants are under 30 – but a skills mismatch has left millions unemployed. Launched at the end of 2020, Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) presents a two-pronged solution.

The scheme has created thousands of paid work placements for young people in areas with few employment opportunities by sending them back to school. Employed to do administrative work, gardening, maintenance or data capturing inside schools within their own communities, the placements create income and experience for the individual, while supporting often poorly-resourced schools. 

In this opinion piece for the Daily Maverick, third-sector specialists Bridget Hannah and Kristal Duncan-Williams argue for continued funding for the BEEI so it can enable thousands more students to improve their chances.

Working culture

The Edinburgh Fringe is in full swing, but the creative souls who make it happen are finding it increasingly unaffordable. With the rising cost of living and extortionate AirBnBs, performers say that breaking even is a bonus.  

Comedian, broadcaster and Big Issue columnist Robin Ince, credits his performances at the Fringe as a major part of the journey to success. "It was my years of performing on the free Fringe, where your ticket price is whatever is put in the bucket at the end, that freed me," he writes. “The terror of debt may push you to try and create something that you think will lead to big bucks contracts, but in this desperation you may lose the real thing that will satisfy you AND the audience."

Edinburgh Fringe should be affordable for all – acts and audience alike, he writes in The Big Issue. Robin Ince’s Edinburgh Fringe show, Weapons of Empathy, is showing 2-27 August at 1pm, Gilded Balloon at the Museum. 

Enjoying this newsletter? Check out Survival Guide, our newsletter on the cost of living crisis from my colleague Isabella McRae. We also have a cost of living help Facebook group with money-saving tips and positive stories.

In the diary

Ongoing. Train drivers with union Aslef have refused to work overtime throughout July, with the industrial action scheduled to end on Saturday 5 August. However the union has extended the ban, which will continue from Monday 7 August to Saturday 12 August.

Friday 11 August. Junior doctors walk out for four days from 7am until 7am on Tuesday 15 August.

Thursday 24 August. NHS consultants walk out for two days.

Sunday 10 -13 September. The 155th annual TUC Congress will take place in Liverpool.

Tuesday 19 September. Consultants strike for another two-day period.

Wednesday 27 September. Creating a Good Jobs economy, lecture by Professor Dani Rodrik, at The Resolution Foundation.

Animals with jobs 

Mel Stride might want over-50s out delivering takeaways, but has he considered recruiting some of Britain’s four-legged-layabouts to get on the roads? This canine courier is bound to bring a smile while fetching your Friday night dinner.

Does your cat/dog/garden fox/animal you saw on holiday participate in the daily grind? Nominate them today by sending me a photo to: evie.breese@bigissue.com

This week's Big Issue magazine

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