Unpaid Internships; Unethical, Exploitative And Far Too Common
From Stifling Social Mobility To Undermining The Entry Level Role, They Are Bad All Over
Research by the Sutton Trust shows that out of 100,000 interns working in the UK, 58,000 of them are unpaid. The Arts industry- which I aspire to break into- is the worst offender; 86% of internships there are unpaid- almost nine out of ten. Media and Retail also rank highly; 83% and 89% respectively. I am currently in a six month content writing internship where I seem to give much- and receive very little- in return. I currently fail to see the educational aspect of the role, unless you count learning by doing, in isolation, with little feedback educational. Granted, it doesn’t demand too much from me, but the story is very different for others. Frankly, this is unacceptable and exploitative.
Firstly, It violates a basic and axiomatic principle; you should be paid for your labour. In theory, internships are supposed to be opportunities that help the intern learn a craft, but a lot of the unpaid internships I have come across seem to ask for a lot from candidates that THEY are supposed to be providing valuable experience or education to; many internships require you to have a host of skills you have paid to learn already in order to complete jobs for them; they invite interns to class and then ask them to teach. Far from a relationship of teacher and student, more often than not it seems that unpaid internships- and my experience is solely in the creative industries- are just free labour repackaged in more palatable terms.
You may argue that people choose internships and thus can’t complain- it’s about as convincing as arguing that those working in sweatshops could leave if they wanted to. They may not be working against their will, but they have been herded into these roles out of desperation. Unpaid internships are necessary evils that young, ambitious grads accept as the cost of achieving meaningful work.
For graduates, the demand for excessive experience from graduate roles forces them into exploitative unpaid positions because Internships are necessary to bulk up experience in many industries. Yes, graduates could avoid unpaid internships, but to stay competitive many have to take them against their will. If I had any choice I wouldn’t be selling good work and giving time for nothing in return; it’s charity without the noble cause. In short, I do it because the alternative would be to forfeit a career in something I love.
In addition, many grads are scared to speak up lest they are branded troublemakers in their chosen field, which could hinder their prospects going forward. Consequently, grads continue to jostle for highly lucrative unpaid roles in the hope it will kick start their career. Whilst a few illustrious companies might well do just that, many will probably confer little benefit. We have reached the farcical situation where skilled graduates are competing to work for free. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so unethical.
Furthermore, the most powerful reason to oppose unpaid internships is that they reinforce class inequalities and ensure that desirable careers will become bastions for the elite. Naturally, by demanding that interns pay their own way whilst getting experience, unpaid internships adversely affect class mobility; kids from middle and working class backgrounds simply can’t relocate or work for free and thus have less chance of obtaining paid roles which require experience.
As for high school graduates, the entry level roles traditionally available are fast being replaced by internships leaving them in limbo. In my own search for work there seems to be a worrying gap between unpaid internships and jobs requiring 2 or 3 years experience to be considered. Faced with this situation, graduates will often take any unpaid role they can obtain, as it is better to have something than nothing. Much as I understand that some internships are, in the long run, beneficial for grads, the best examples allow the worst to thrive and so I struggle to endorse them. Moreover, regardless of whether they do benefit the graduate, there is still the issue of them benefiting privileged graduates at the expense of others.
On this point, Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust and the chair of the Education Endowment Foundation, notes that: “Unpaid internships prevent young people from low and moderate-income backgrounds from accessing careers in some of the most desirable sectors such as journalism, fashion, the arts and law.” He called on the government to take sterner action and tackle the offenders proactively; “It’s clear that the current law is not working — at the end of 2017 there were no prosecutions in relation to interns and pay, yet tens of thousands of young people continue to work for free. We want to see tighter legislation so that all internships are paid at least the national minimum wage, fairly advertised and awarded on merit.”
Similarly, in 2017, The Taylor Review Of Modern Working Working Practices- a report commissioned by the Government of the day- stated unequivocally that “it is clear to us that unpaid internships are an abuse of power by employers and extremely damaging to social mobility.” Nonetheless, they continue to abound and graduates continue to be exploited.
I for one can attest to this and have often despaired at the impenetrable barriers these industries put up to less affluent individuals. It has to stop. And let’s get this straight- we’re not just talking about 1 or 2 weeks of unpaid labour, internships can last up to six months. I don’t know many people that could keep themselves afloat for that long. Requiring experience that can only be obtained through unpaid roles undermines the foundations of meritocracy as plenty of bright, talented individuals are being deprived of the opportunity to thrive in the arts and media.
Moreover, It’s hard to stay motivated in certain internships when companies take so much and give so little. Much as I would like to paint this as a practical reason companies should start paying interns, (to get better quality work) it is actually a worthwhile risk- if it can be called a risk at all- for the hiring company. In short, they lose no money if things do not work out and can replace the disenchanted grad with some other- wealthy- graduate who can have his living costs subsidised. Meanwhile, the graduate loses valuable time committing to roles which may or may not help them.
Roles often keep interns hanging on with vague suggestions that it ‘may turn into a paid role’ after x amount of months. The use of the word maybe is a legal necessity; if they promised any future paid work they would be obliged to pay them. Most Humanities internships I have come across would’ve been more accurately described as volunteer roles. Whether this was deliberate subterfuge or born of ignorance I cannot say, but far too often companies seem to be exploiting grads desperate to break into their chosen industry and taking far more than they give. We should do more as a society to hold exploitative companies to account, and make it easier to report those violating the laws. For those found to be misusing the label of Unpaid Internships, serious consequences should ensue.
In conclusion, unpaid internships are exploitative, unethical and a big factor in perpetuating inequalities in a variety of industries. Moreover, roles advertised as unpaid internships increasingly fail to live up to the requirements of the title, namely, providing valuable experience and industry education. On the contrary, many internships demand experience, utilise these skills for free, and promise vague possibilities of employment. On another note, I have no doubt this plays a prominent role in the Quarter Life Crisis that many twenty-somethings report, which is defined by angst regarding one’s purpose and career path, but that’s a topic for another post altogether.
