5 Reasons Why Unpaid Internships Should Be Absolutely Illegal

Most Millennials have been through the hassle of finishing their university degree but not being able to find a job that they would like to perform. With high education but not much experience, which is necessary for most positions nowadays, either they try to find an entry-level job or they will try to go to an internship.

To be able to find an entry-level job nowadays is extremely difficult in most sectors, so most of us will try to go for internship opportunities. Internships can be very valuable experiences, particularly if the company intends to train you to fill in a future position. However, the problem is when they are absolutely not paid. There is no win-win situation here.

These are the 5 reasons why unpaid internships should be absolutely illegal:

1. You work many hours but you are not paid for your work. This is an obvious reason, however, think about it: how many internships make you work exactly the same type of work and hours as all the other employers but without receiving anything?

2. Instead of having a full-time employer for the position the companies have an 'unpaid-full-time-employer-with-the-status-of-a-trainee'. If you wanted to have someone doing something for you, would you rather pay to have the work done or have it for free?

3. It excludes people of middle to lower class backgrounds. Since some people are unable to support themselves without having an income, this will unable some people to take unpaid internship positions, which will mean that only higher class Millennials will have the opportunity, and only them, will be able to enter the 'entry-level', since they require previous experience.

4. If you are offered credits instead of getting paid, this actually means that you are paying for your own unpaid internship. Since many universities require students to complete their studies by doing an unpaid internship, this actually means that the university is cutting in tuition hours that you are paying and you are working for free, which means that you are actually paying for your internship.

5. The economy as a whole suffers the side-effects of this gigantic unpaid internships vicious cycle. If unpaid interns are performing instead of full-time employers, workers without a job cannot afford to pay for their life expenses, which means that people must rely on the government to subsidize their living, meaning that actually every taxpayer is paying for this.

My suggestion is, consider it very well before taking it into consideration and think whether it is worth to contribute to this cycle. It is not all about duties, it is also about rights.

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