Internships as the new elitism

A story coming through from The Guardian in Britain is the growing use of unpaid internships in business and government to employ university graduates at minimal cost. With up to one million young people estimated to be unemployed this year, this is a source of cheap labour, but its growing use for that purpose has raised allegations of exploitation and avoiding minimum wage obligations.

Another consequence of the high use of unpaid internships in some industries is that it reinforces patterns of elite employment that were raised in the Milburn Review into inequality in Britain. For those from lower-class backgrounds, the option of months or years of unpaiod work is less open, as they cannot rely upon parental support. This is particularly likely in the media and creative industries, where the notion of short-term contract work is widespread and people are more willing to forego short-term income.

Alex Donovan, 22, has been trying to break into the film world since graduating from Nottingham University last year with a degree in American studies.

After numerous unpaid stints as a runner, assistant director, editor, camera assistant, scriptwriter, website tester and general office skivvy, he is signing on and working unpaid in an east London theatre.

"It's immensely frustrating and I've got to the point now where I can't do internships," he said. "I've been on the dole for six months and I can't get bar work and a lot of high street recruitment agencies won't take me on as I don't have recognisable skills. They won't even take my CV. I knew film was notoriously difficult to get into, but I'd hoped to be in a paid job after six months."

Despite the setbacks, Donovan is determined to persevere. "It would be very easy to get depressed and there are nights when I think, 'Oh my God, why am I doing this?' but I will definitely keep pushing away to get into film; I would hate to end up doing something I didn't want to do."

Research by the National Council for Work Experience suggests that Donovan is not alone, and that his predicament will be shared by thousands more graduates this year.

A poll of 1,400 recent graduates and students who were seeking work found that 66% had felt obliged to work for free and 67% said they felt "exploited" or "undervalued" while doing work experience. The research, seen by the Guardian, reveals that half had worked unpaid for four weeks or more.

The government's own guidelines suggest that in the vast majority of cases unpaid placements should be for no more than two weeks.

More here.