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Should Students & Grads be paid for internships and work experience?

'Youth unemployment is at record levels: young people across the UK are increasingly turning to internships to improve their chances of winning that lucrative first job. There are currently no rules governing internships in the UK, leading to accusations of exploitation and elitism.'

National Minimum Wage laws say that we are entitled to a minimum of £5.93/hour unless working for a charity or non-profitable organisation. Then why are students, graduates and young people working for free? Perhaps it is too difficult to enforce this law with so many people willing to work for free.

I am looking for Students and Graduates with strong views on this subject.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

viffer

People pay for courses out of their own resources to improve their skills and knowledge. Is there any difference from indirectly 'paying' by not taking a salary when doing work experience to gain practical experience and demonstrate good workplace discipline? Whether to do it is entirely a decision for the individual. If they want experience of 'working' in a particular environment or industry, manage to persuade an employer to provide it, it enhances their CV/references and as a result improves their paid employment prospects then I would argue that, on balance, it is not such a bad thing. I appreciate that it is not as simple as that and there is a much bigger picture but nevertheless. And btw, I wonder how long it will be before the usual suspects turf up screaming that it is capitalist exploitation or something similar. If I was a betting man I'd say half an hour give or take 10 mins

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

Sirocco11

Well I am willing to pay for valuable work experience and I accept that the majority of the time I will not get paid for it, but it doesn't make it right. For someone who doesn't live in one of the big cities where the work is, like London, Manchester or Birmingham, the cost can be enormous for a 2-4 week placement and a lot of organisations won't even pay for transport expenses as a bare minimum. It hinders those who don't have the money to support themselves and gives an advantage to those more affluent who have the ability to take a paid, prestigious internship that others can't afford.

Also, I think the willingness to work unpaid has become part of the competition for jobs, as an implicit question is how far would you for a job? In that sense taking unpaid work demonstrates your commitment and will likely be rewarded, but at the same time it is not legitimate to demand that from students and graduates.

Reply 3

Beebumble

In an ideal world yes, but the only reason company's take these people on is because they're free. If they had to pay them then the companies just won't take them on and it'll be even harder for graduates to get jobs.