<p>Opportunity</a> Costs: The True Price of Internships | Dissent Magazine</p>
<p>Probably the tip of the iceberg. A few decades ago, they might have called internships a novel form of organized slavery or indentured servitude. The latter, however, being more descriptive of the TA/GSI model that is so prevalent in our system of education. </p>
<p>All the "interships" are doing is merely lowering the age and the education level of the exploited.</p>
<p>The NY Department of Labor is going after companies that use unpaid interns and has made it clear to them they must at least minimum wage and overtime, and that only not for profits can have volunteers.</p>
<p>I hate the idea of unpaid internships but I don’t want to see them legislated away. I’d rather the interns be treated as the law expects: as unpaid observers, there to learn about the business, not do it.</p>
<p>Here are the Department of Labor’s critieria for an intern under the Fair Labor and Standards Act: </p>
<p>The following six criteria must be applied when making this determination: </p>
<p>1.The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2.The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3.The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
4.The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
5.The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6.The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - Fact Sheet](<a href=“http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm]U.S”>Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act | U.S. Department of Labor)</p>
<p>@dadinator: thank you! I’m going to add this information to our department’s booklet for students doing internships.</p>
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<p>Then the operative phrase here is that the intern agrees to not being given a wage.</p>
<p>That means that unpaid internships can continue. </p>
<p>But I agree with Bay, there could be tons of internships offered if they were not presented as actual employment producing something but instead as opportunities to observe and learn.</p>
<p>I have a problem with unpaid internships. They might look good on paper ( or so one hopes when accepting one in hopes of padding their resume ) In the long run , it allows companies to exploit college students in the hopes it will yield an entry level job. More and more companies are taking advantage of this and instead of it leading to gainful employment, it just lets the employer continue to get free workers since so many eager students are waiting in the wings to take the place of the the one that came before them. A pat on the back isn’t what they are looking for…they want to get a job in their field of study .</p>
<p>Dadinator, New York has additional rules.</p>
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<p>As long as the “employer” can demonstrate that </p>
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<p>something that, in the scenario that has developed over the past years, many would have the hardest time justifying. </p>
<p>No immediate advantage is a pretty iron-clad description.</p>
<p>“Kanye West, whose earnings as of May 2012 were $35 million a year, recently completed an internship at the Italian luxury fashion house of Fendi.”</p>
<p>Must be checking out whether it is safe to send his unborn kid at age 16 or whatever. Kanye West would fit right in with CC helicopters if that was the intent. :D</p>
<p>We really need a celebrity corner of parents on CC.</p>
<p>Many internships now must be eligible for college credit.</p>
<p>My daughter had two great internships, one paid, the other not. Both for sure helped her cAreer. My other daughter decided not to pursue a certain career path because of the way the internships were done. Smart girl</p>
<p>If you are true.y learning, and it counts as a class, well, it can be fine. But certain industries, like fashion, seem to take advantage.</p>
<p>Many colleges offer two kinds of research internships - paid or for credit but one can’t get both.</p>
<p>Training a new regular employee requires months of time where it would often be easier to do it yourself so I do not think the “no immediate advantage” hurdle is very high at all in a 3 month internship.</p>
<p>That is true, TPG, unless the student can submit a report on the internship for a full class credit in a subsequent quarter. That does, of course, require the professor to both require the internship and design the curriculum around the rule you referred to.</p>
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<p>Wrong! </p>
<p>Immediate advantage is not equal to long-trm or permament advantage. And the comparison to training a new employee is irrelevant for unpaid internships.</p>
<p>Filing, answering the phones, bringing coffee, and acting as database entry monkeys are perfect examples of “immediate advantages” as it allows companies to displace workers or … allow them to vacation with their families. The same for research projects.</p>
<p>And, that is what most unpaid internships are all about. As people who are in the age group of the typical intern happen to know! And, what the employers who take advantage of the students also know very well, in a departure from the companies that rely on bona fide summer internships that happen to be well compensated.</p>
<p>You got any interns xiggi?</p>
<p>For unpaid interns, the answer is … nope.</p>
<p>Here is a quote from the article:</p>
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<p>I was not aware of this. I am very thankful that our D was employed as an intern for the past two summers and received generous compensation for the work she performed. She proved that she had the ability to be a productive member of a team. A male friend of hers was not so fortunate. Although he had a paid internship, he essentially sat around the entire summer and was not given anything useful to work on. What a waste because he is a very bright young man.</p>
<p>I believe that it many, if not most circumstances, unpaid interns are being exploited.</p>
<p>Daughter 1 participated in three unpaid internships in her field of study. They loved her and really appreciated her work ethic ( she has been working since she was 11 in our family business , so yes she stands out and has been told that everywhere she has worked )
Daughter 2 chose a university that is known for their co ops ( paid ) both have excellent work ethics but there is a huge difference not only in their fields of study , but the value of their college level work experience associated directly from their schools.</p>
<p>Summer interns are work for the employer. I have had unpaid interns but find they are more trouble than they are worth. This is just my experience and it may be just my luck or my industry (financial). It may even be the fact that some of these interns had never earned a paycheck. Or the fact that it was unpaid may have given them license to act above certain tasks. </p>
<p>In any case, my days of unpaid interns are over. I love to hire college students over the summer. They work for pay. I get labor to cover vacations, they get a generous paycheck, experience, and the potential for future employent. </p>
<p>This way there is no outrage over the tasks they are required to do (answer phones, take minutes, or perform data entry tasks). I would never call it monkey work as a previos poster did since there are good and honest hard working people who do this work. A 19 year old is hardly above it.</p>