Companies Phasing Out Unpaid Internships

An article from the WSJ notes that the percentage of unpaid internships that students took on dropped from 50% to 43% from 2012 to 2017. This comes in light of university students now taking on more internships than ever.

With unemployment at historic lows, more companies are paying for workers they used to get for free in order to ensure a pipeline of young talent for entry-level positions. In some cases, hiring managers are relaxing standards to fill open seats.

I believe unpaid internships still provide value to the students, allowing them to learn and develop applicable workplace skills, as well as gain real experience (Barring the coffee monkey/printer jockey I have seen at some of my friends’ internships).

What do you guys think about the concept of unpaid internships?

Are the skills and experience gained enough of an incentive to the student?

1 Comments
 

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