Internships are apparently the norm if you want a large salary in the future – they're considered the essential advantage that defines the difference between six figures and unemployment. Ironic, considering one of the greatest defining traits of internships is that they are unpaid.
Businesses claim they’re doing “charity work,” preparing young minds for the challenging job market before them. Any business that meets the six broad terms defined by the Department of Labor in 2010 can have an intern who works full-time, for free. Check those out, by the way, and question if your internship right now is even really legal.
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Internships are also often full-time, preventing students from finding an alternative source of income. This means that those who can already afford to go without a paying job can afford to take an unpaid internship. Conservative political scientist Charles Murray wrote in the New York Times, “We should get rid of unpaid internships. It amounts to career assistance for rich, smart children. Those from the middle and working class, struggling to pay for college, can’t afford to work for free.” By forcing a decision between pay and essential “life experience,” the concept of interning only perpetuates the privilege of those who can afford the work experience — and students who can’t afford it are excluded out of the possible advantages an internship can provide.
One of the possible advantages is college credit. But wait — why wouldn’t colleges promote giving credit for students paying tuition without receiving any college education? It makes sense in terms of finance for colleges and universities to support this exploitation; these institutions can only gain from perpetuating this system. Students are essentially paying to work for free.
Well, internships are supposed to result in a job and money down the road, right? The National Association of Colleges and Employers published the results of their three-year long research that asked if college graduates have received a job offer, and if they’ve ever had either a paid or unpaid internship. The results are pretty consistent for those three years. In 2013, 63.1 percent of surveyed students with a paid internship under their belt had received at least one job offer, 37.1 percent of students with an unpaid internship received one job offer, while 35.3 percent of students with no internship experience received one job offer. Basically, unpaid internships don’t actually provide an advantage — there's, statistically, nothing to lose by not taking an internship.
Sadly enough, the salary difference between paid and unpaid internships were also statistically significant. According to a CNBC article, graduated students with paid internships landed salaries averaging $51,900. Those with unpaid internships received an average of $35,700. To compare, students with no internships received an average salary of $37,100.
Generation Y has other problems as well. It’s not news that the job market is terrible; nearly half of all recent college graduates are working at jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree, according to a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. According to a May 2015 report from Generation Opportunity, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for millennials, data shows 13.8 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds are out of work. The national jobless rate is at 5.4 percent. Despite it being useless to nearly half of all recent college graduates, the bachelor’s degree continues to be a basic standard.
So how much does a degree cost? More than in the past, that's for sure. The average debt for the class of 2012 was $29,400, according to a US News & World Report article. Recently graduated seniors of 2014 could have a debt average as high as $33,000. Tuition and fees continue to climb above inflation. According to a 2014 report by College Board, tuition and fees at private nonprofit colleges climbed 3.7 percent on average to $31,231, while inflation rose 1.4 percent. Seventy-one percent of graduating students have loan debt, according to a March 2014 report by the Institute for College Access & Success. You get the point: Millennials owe a ton in student loans.
Internships aren’t about money for most students — this is understood. Internships are supposed to provide experience and connections. Yes, surely, there are a great many internship opportunities that provide great experience and a tangible advantage in the job search. This isn’t about the exception, though, it’s about the rule. The rule is that interns are essentially unpaid, replaceable labor. When corporations don't have to invest money into an employee, there's no guarantee in hiring the intern once they're out of college.
Sadly enough, this may be a big reason why graduated students are unable to find jobs. Ross Perlin, author of “Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy,” wrote that unpaid internships save companies $600 million dollars per year. Thus, there’s no point in paying a new graduate, no matter how much experience and education they have, a full salary if there are interns eager to do the same work for nothing.
An individual is making the conscious decision to take on an unpaid internship, but is there really freedom when experience is branded as mandatory in the job market? It’s not realistic to expect college students to suddenly stop seeking internships. The point is that it’s a very broken system if exploitation is a necessary step in being able to receive a substantial income — and that same exploitation is preventing more young adults from actually entering the job market.
How do we fix this pattern of screwing students over? I propose a good, new-fashioned social movement: a 21st century version of a labor union. Normalize getting paid! Sue anyone who tries to take advantage of you; there are, fortunately, many resources online for this. Force people to take notice on social media — use the hashtag #paytheintern on Twitter. Share articles that point out that unpaid internships don't make sense to spark discussion. It’s not biting the hand that feeds you; it’s acting like human beings in a symbiotic relationship.
And don’t scab about it. It’s definitely a little difficult to just sue the people who have just hired you. However, you can normalize paying for things yourself — tolerate the paywalls at news sites and subscribe with money. As artists, web designers, writers, etc. let people know that work should be paid for. Freelance does not mean free. Turn off ad-block on sites that monetize with ads. Go support a Kickstarter or any other fundraiser. To normalize paying for work, we must pay for work as well, in all aspects of consumerism. As socially responsible consumers we need to get used to actually paying for stuff.
Turn on that famous Gen Y optimism. The employers benefit more than the intern in this relationship, meaning the intern has more power. Interning isn’t providing an advantage it’s exploitation in sheep’s clothing. Fight for a world where working for nothing is not a requirement.
