For young college graduates, the unpaid internship
is a rite of passage. All across Europe and North America, offices are brimming
with young and able interns, eager to devote their summers, semesters, and sometimes,
even years. Many have college-level degrees and
college-size debts. But most will earn nothing for their efforts.
In an era in which wages and work hours are regulated, what justifies the unpaid
internship? Is free labor fair labor?
The debate on unpaid internshipshas brewed for
several years. It accelerated
in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, when job scarcity increased
the appeal of unpaid job placements.
Today, the debate over internships runs something like this:
Employers (and many interns) argue that internships are mutually advantageous.
Sure, interns don't get paid, but they earn something more valuable: experience.
As interns, students and recent graduates learn a craft outside of the classroom.
They establish networks, collegial relationships, and ultimately, build the
foundation needed to find the job of their choice.
Critics are more skeptical.
They say unpaid internships often violate existing labor laws. Particularly
in for-profit companies, interns act as unpaid hired hands. Rather than learn
a trade, they learn the how-to's of office drudgery: making coffee, sending
faxes, and learning the intricacies of the office printer. Rarely are they exposed
to substantive work.
Others point to the inequity of internships. Because interns work for free,
only the well-off can afford to take them. With rent to pay and college loans
to meet, a lack of internship experience can put students of more modest means
at a disadvantage. This means that wealth, not merit, determines the likelihood
of future employment.
As you weigh the debate on unpaid internships, where do you stand? Are unpaid
internships ethical?
By Marlene
Spoerri
For more information see
"Unpaid
Employment: Inferno for Interns," The Economist, April 20, 2011
Ross Perlin, "The
Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not," The New York Times, April 2, 2011
Photo Credits in order of Appearance:Bill
Hrybyk/NASA Goddard [also for picture 5]
Jason
Bache
U.S.
Department of Labor [also for picture 8]
Walt
Otto
Argonne
National Laboratory
John
Amis [also for pictures 10
and 12]
Andrew
Hitchcock
Travis
Isaacs
