The way job openings are in short supply even to people who lower their expectations, there are plenty of people fresh out of college who are willing to do anything to add to their slim resumes to become more employable. The problem is that they will do anything, for free. Legal internships, fashion internships, journalism internships, are all open to all comers now, ever since the price of hiring an intern dropped to zero. And the government is seeing a dangerous trend here. It would seem that companies are just milking the economic recession problem for all it's worth, to get themselves some free slave labor.
Convinced more everyday that retaining an intern for no money is just a way for cheapo businesses to get around the country's minimum wage laws (that's right, even legal interns and fashion interns, those glamorous people who fetch coffee for the top legal firms and fashion houses, work in conditions where the minimum wage would actually be a step up), the government does want to get interns to make complaints so that they can really mount serious lawsuits against companies that sponge on poor fresh graduates. Can you imagine what it would be like for an intern to complain when she is so desperate for a job, she will work for free? She will know that if she has her name attached to a lawsuit against her industry, she'll probably be out of a job even before she ever got one. Basically, the government says that if you are not a charitable enterprise, there are almost no situations where it might be legal for anyone to hire a free intern. Not even in artistic enterprises like the music business or the fashion business.
If you are an employer, say a small fashion house, and you want to advertise for unpaid fashion internships, what are the rules you'd have to be in compliance with to do so legally? There are actually six different rules you must satisfy to be able to do that. For instance, the training that your intern gets needs to be so educational for her that she would gain from her experience with your company nearly as much as she would, going to fashion school. And that in turn should be doing the kind of work you would normally hire a paid employee for. Mostly, it should look like you retain young hopefuls and fashion internships entirely for their benefit. You shouldn't be able to benefit from their working for you and your company in any apparent way.
Almost four out of five graduates fresh out of college take on internships. It doesn't look like there's anyone paying attention to these laws. No wonder this country has such a terrible problem now with unemployment. The companies are getting free slave labor to keep ordinary qualified people out of a job. Unpaid fashion internships are notorious for just retaining graduates for menial labor. There are Ivy League graduates out there fetching coffee and stuffing envelopes for free. As irrelevant as this kind of experience might be for a paid job in the future, just to get to say that you were an intern at some major company helps you get that first paid job. Still, this is not good enough. When those fashion houses and banks show up at colleges asking to advertise for unpaid internships, the college administrations get so mad, they throw them out on their ear these days.
First, Corporate America saw success in reducing pay all around for anyone but the most highly qualified creative types over the last 50 years. Getting jail inmates to work in factories for their keep is one way they've tried to get pay down to zero. And now, they have freshfaced graduates lining up for the privilege of fetching them coffee. Things do improve over time, don't they?
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