In many situations, an unpaid internship is a good way to get experience and made connections in an industry. Despite not being paid, the intern is still benefitting from the relationship. However, some employers treat unpaid interns like free labor. Many argue that interns are getting more than enough in experience, while some think that it's unfair to not pay for labor.
In the past, there was been an increase in laws created about unpaid internships, making it difficult to categorize an intern as unpaid. But recently the Department of Labor changed the guidelines, making it much easier. In the past, the rules about when to pay an intern or not mostly focused on whether the employer was benefitting from the work. If an intern was doing the exact same things as a regular employee, they would have to be paid. Now, the rules are more concerned about workplace experience and less about the specific details of the work.
But do unpaid internships actually work? Do interns eventually land a high paying job after working for free? There are concerns that unpaid jobs are crowding out paying positions, leaving less entry-level jobs. This means more and more people would be willing to be unpaid just be considered for a paying job. Additionally, a recent survey showed that only 38% of people who had participated in an unpaid internship actually ended up getting a job.
Unpaid internships are growing more and more controversial. As the price of living and tuition increases, more and more students cannot afford to get the experience of an unpaid internship. Employers may not have access to the most talented people in their industry, because only some students can afford to work for free.
While unpaid internships are probably not going away any time soon, they certainly might change in the future. Should the regulation on internships increase or decrease? Should employers take into account the economic challenges of unpaid interns?
Work Citied:
https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0512/the-ethics-and-economics-of-unpaid-internships.aspx
https://www.plaintiffmagazine.com/item/using-unpaid-intern-labor-it-ll-cost-you
https://www.nemethlawpc.com/news-240.html
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I really liked how you start off with the non-quantifiable benefit of internships: the relations aspect. I think it was really interesting to bring up. The 38% number was really eye opening, I did not know that many interns did not find a paying job afterwards. However, one thing I was a bit confused about was the question of paid vs. unpaid internships and in turn how this can translate into employment rates. I understand that paying people who don't have a job is probably a good thing, but how would having paid internships increase the number of people getting jobs after internships? It almost feels like if you stake a price on internships, the quantity of internships would go down altogether, perhaps driving up the number of people actually getting jobs after an internship, just in an artificial way. ie. if the supply of jobs remain the same, the supply internships decrease, then the % number of interns getting jobs would "increase" despite total jobs remaining the same right? Because internships are inherently more short-term than jobs, it seems more appropriate to help transition more interns towards jobs.
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