All around, hints of spring abound. The temperature rises, the birds sing and minutes of sunlight gradually increase by the day. But one thing seems to notify college students that it is springtime more than anything else — internships. Emails fill our inboxes with opportunities, recruiters come to campus and friends discuss their summer work plans with each other. In all of the excitement and anxiety, we sometimes forget to consider one of the most important questions: Is it paid?
The number of students taking internships today is unprecedented in modern American history. A survey conducted by the National Association for Colleges and Employers claims that only 9 percent of college students in 1992 took internships, compared to a jaw-dropping 80 percent in 2008. According to an article published by National Public Radio, "More than 1 million Americans a year work as interns." This all sounds dandy if you believe an internship is a valuable experience that prepares students for the workforce by providing hands-on training, but a closer examination reveals a sobering reality.
Of the million American internships a year, approximately half are unpaid. According to the United States Department of Labor, unpaid internships in for-profit industries are legal so long as they meet certain criteria, including that the internship is educational, benefits the intern, does not directly benefit the employer and does not displace paid employees. Unsurprisingly, many employers have taken advantage of this vague language at the expense of dissolving a healthy American middle class.
At a time when a list of internships on a resume is often more marketable than a college degree, it is undeniable that internships lead to economic opportunities. But a survey conducted by NACE in 2011 reveals that while 61 percent of paid interns in the for-profit sector received job offers, only 38 percent of unpaid interns working at for-profits did. So why is this the case?
Students with paid internships reported that they received hands-on training, performed professional tasks and had more responsibilities than those who worked as unpaid interns, who performed more clerical work. This means that nearly half a million Americans working as unpaid interns a year perform menial tasks like folding boxes, stuffing envelopes and shredding files, while another half a million receive a paycheck and training that actually makes them employable in the future. It seems then that most unpaid internships are in direct contradiction with the U.S. Department of Labor's criteria, since they do not provide educational training, are of no benefit to the intern, provide an immediate benefit to the employer and replace paid jobs with free student labor.
At a time when jobs are scarce, unpaid internships pose a serious threat to paid employment. Employers can re-market once-paid positions as unpaid internships. With the surplus of student labor willing to work for free, employers are almost guaranteed that an open unpaid position will be filled — if not by you, then by one of your peers. So long as the Department of Labor's regulations contain such vague language, there is nothing stopping employers from abusing this surplus of free labor.
In addition to replacing paid labor and failing to provide educational training, unpaid internships perpetuate the growing socioeconomic divide. Today, many employers expect resumes with a laundry list of internships, which is fine if mommy and daddy are capable of paying for an apartment, food and transportation for the summer. But what about students who come from families that cannot afford to fund three months of living? If students do need to earn money during the summer in order to pay for things like books in the fall, they may take a paying job that does not necessarily provide the educational training that is supposed to come with an internship. And according to another survey conducted by NACE, students who had internships had higher starting salaries after graduation than those who did not have internships. Thus, lower-income students are essentially required to work for free now in addition to having to pay off student loans in the future if they want to be as marketable as their wealthier friends after graduation.
So this spring as you make your summer plans, consider the effects of unpaid internships. If you cannot find an internship that provides educational training or a salary, then instead of sitting over a paper shredder for hours without pay, why not do something more meaningful, like volunteer? Volunteering is the same as an unpaid internship in that you can put it on your resume, but instead of perpetuating this unequal system of opportunity, volunteering helps communities in need.
Rebecca McGoldrick '12 is an English concentrator from Andover, N.J. She can be reached at rebecca_mcgoldrick@brown.edu.
