Working In These Times
Better Late Than Never: Feds Crack Down on Illegal Internships
Hanh Nguyen, an intern with the Immunogen Design Group, extracts DNA from test samples in New York City. Internships can offer valuable experience, but have become a hidden class barrier. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Federal and state regulators are cracking down on illegal unpaid internships. With unemployment in the double digits, many young workers are taking unpaid internships in the hopes of keeping busy and enhancing their resumes. A 2008 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that half of all college students had held an internship, compared to 17 percent in 1992.
Many are unaware that most unpaid internships at for-profit companies are illegal. Employers can't evade minimum wage laws just by calling junior employees "interns."
"If you're a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren't going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law," Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the Department of Labor's wage and hour division told the New York Times.
The federal government was a relative latecomer to the effort to rein in exploitative internships. States including California, Oregon, and New York led the way. As New York's labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith launched investigations into internship programs at several companies. Smith is now the top law enforcement official at the labor department.
The institutionalization of the internship is troubling on many levels. In many fields, including journalism, internships are practically mandatory. Even paid internships seldom offer pay and benefits comparable to an entry-level job in the industry. The most desirable openings are often in expensive cities like New York and Washington D.C.. Not all students can afford an extended period of unpaid or low-paid employment.
In other words, internships have become a hidden class barrier. Financial aid can help students afford college itself, but there's no comparable support for recent graduates who are expected to intern.
The other day, a recent college graduate wrote to me for advice about pursuing a career in journalism. She asked me whether I thought it was worthwhile to apply to graduate school in journalism. Personally, I didn't do j-school or an internship. I never regretted skipping j-school, but in retrospect, the right internship could have been a real boon to my career.
I suggested to the aspiring journalist that instead of going into debt for j-school, she use some of the money she was saving for her graduate studies to defray living expenses during a low-paid but prestigious internship. It made me sad to tell a young woman who's working a low-level retail job to pay for her education that she'd do well to fork over some of that cash to subsidize a major media corporation.
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Comments
The recent report you referred to looked at the unfair and often unpaid internship practices that help to perpetuate inequality in the job market. They followed the report up with a proposal that asked for initial federal funding of $500 million to financially support students in roughly 100,000 internships similar to the government’s incredibly popular (and overflowing) Americorps program, but with more flexibility. Like Americorps the supported positions were at non-profit organizations, but unlike Americorps the goal was to focus sponsorship on students with economic needs. This proposal in my mind should be fully supported for a number of reasons:
1. The number of Americorps applicants has skyrocketed. In 2009 due to a poor economy and an increased focus amongst millenials to combine doing good with career building over 150,000 applicants applied to Americorps positions (according to a CNCS report) more than tripling applications from the year prior. With an acceptance rate at under 25% there is clearly a need (and one that is growing) for similar programs.
2. The economic payoff is well worth the expenditure. Internships have become a crucial driver of the economy and job market. A subsidized internship that helps a student get educated in his/her career path, build job skills, and become a more capable future employee has tremendous long term payoff for the US economy. Not to mention the benefits accrued by organizations who could not typically afford this additional staffing.
3. The social payoff is well worth the expenditure. Rather than spending government money directly on trying to address large scale social problems, supporting a work force for non-profit organizations who are individually experts in issues ranging from education, community development, and more allows for a flexible way to address a range of important social issues.
4. Internships are now almost a prerequisite to the job world but are a far cry from being open to all. While non-discrimination, minimum wage, and labor laws have opened the door to more fair hiring practices, the institution of internships currently requires social capital and financial self sufficiency in a way that perpetuates inequality. As the importance of internships rises the noticeable need for a more democratized search and connection process is very apparent. Furthermore, full time unpaid internships immediately exclude students who need to be earning an income to support themselves or a family. Allowing economically needy students to be subsidized in their internships helps level the playing field for access to this important career gateway. In addition, I think organizations are going to benefit from the change as it expands the pool of possible applicants allowing student interns to compete based on skill rather than connections or a race to offer the lowest wage possible.
Andy Maguire, CEO
Nathan Parcells, CMO
InternMatch.com
I have been working on such an issue for a long time on the grass roots side. I couldn’t seem to get anyone to pay attention. Not even the Department of Labor, or the Dept of Wage law Compliance. Everyone told me I had to actually be a victim in order to report these crimes.
My most recent job interview… I told my interviewer “I know I don’t have experience, but I am willing to start in the mail room and work my way up.” He told me I start Monday at 9, and would get $5 a day for parking (Which anyone in Philly knows, is nothing).
After months of working on this issue, and formulating arguments and statistics, I feel both happy to watch my issue get a main stream light, but sad that after how much I have worked to create some kind of ground support, people who don’t know what it is like to be in my shoes and work their way through college to end up a maid, because paralegals are being replaced by law interns, so there is no job I can work to help pay for law school… So glad I spent $80,000 on a college education at Virginia Tech.
I will say, it does seem our society has such a great victim blaming mentality. Picking on those that can’t do it, saying they aren’t willing to “pay their dues.” It’s like a skewed version of a frat boy who was paddled at initiation, and declaring that those after him must do what he did, plus one.
I know my thoughts were a little rambly… I will try to write something better later to be more clearer :)