I'm sure it's all been covered in the 5 pages so far, but just to add my 2 cents. Despite being a Libertarian I don't think unpaid internships should be legal. In most cases the potential upside just isn't good enough to justify working for nothing. Sure, if an intern has a legitimate shot at working in a Michelin starred restaurant, or other high profile company working for a short time for no money will probably be worth the risk. But there are two problems:
1) It's not only worthy organisations who are employing unpaid interns. Any Tom, Dick and Harry company now think they can get people to work for them for free. In another time this was called slavery (Yes, I know current interns are not "forced" to be there).
2) Even more importantly the practice will only increase the already massive class and income divide. Working for nothing is a luxury only the rich and upper middle class can afford since these kids can be bankrolled by their parents. Not everyone is in this position. The poverty spiral becomes even more viscous.
It's not often that I agree with thee sort of regulations, but given the state of affairs the state is correct in trying to destroy these unpaid internships. I mean, how much is minimum wage in the US... I see in NYC it's $9. Is it really going to kill all these companies who think they are too cool to pay new employees anything to pay someone $9/hour? f they really are hard up, maybe have them for half a day. They should be prepared to do and accept it as a cost of finding out whether someone will be a suitable employee or not. If you make it free for them they'll tend to over"hire", where they already know that 90% of their unpaid interns have no hope of a position. There must be a cost associated so they act responsibly. And there's nothing free in life. If they were recruiting someone through an agency do you think the agency would find someone for free? No way.
1) It's not only worthy organisations who are employing unpaid interns. Any Tom, Dick and Harry company now think they can get people to work for them for free. In another time this was called slavery (Yes, I know current interns are not "forced" to be there).
2) Even more importantly the practice will only increase the already massive class and income divide. Working for nothing is a luxury only the rich and upper middle class can afford since these kids can be bankrolled by their parents. Not everyone is in this position. The poverty spiral becomes even more viscous.
It's not often that I agree with thee sort of regulations, but given the state of affairs the state is correct in trying to destroy these unpaid internships. I mean, how much is minimum wage in the US... I see in NYC it's $9. Is it really going to kill all these companies who think they are too cool to pay new employees anything to pay someone $9/hour? f they really are hard up, maybe have them for half a day. They should be prepared to do and accept it as a cost of finding out whether someone will be a suitable employee or not. If you make it free for them they'll tend to over"hire", where they already know that 90% of their unpaid interns have no hope of a position. There must be a cost associated so they act responsibly. And there's nothing free in life. If they were recruiting someone through an agency do you think the agency would find someone for free? No way.