The number of unpaid internships has mushroomed in recent years, The New York Times reports, and some government officials say employers could be using the interns, often college students or recent graduates, to get free labor at a time of pressure to cut costs. Regulators in Oregon, California, and other states are investigating potential violations of minimum-wage laws, and the U.S. Labor Department is also looking into possible abuses. Enforcement is often hampered, however, by the interns themselves, who are eager to get experience, make contacts, and avoid jeopardizing future job prospects by filing a complaint.
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2 Responses to Students Said to Be Among Victims of Boom in Unpaid Internships
jffoster - April 4, 2010 at 7:18 am
Real interns can write M D or D V M or the like after their names and are called Dr. even by the Chronicle of Higher Education. One of the most despicable sides to these false no-/hypolow – pay “internships” is that the colleges and universities are colluding in it. Nay, even pushing and promoting it.
tridaddy - April 5, 2010 at 9:50 am
jffoster: Do you want a student who finished in education to have never walked into a classroom and actually have done the planning and execution of instruction to “real” students? What about allied health professions? This real world experience is invaluable to the student beyond simply getting a job. Some students actually discover that they do not wish to continue in a particular field after experiencing an internship (pay or not would not change the outcome). The same thing could probably be said for the explosiion in service learning projects for courses as for internships. Obviously, there needs to be balance, but I’m on the side of real-world experience before graduation.