Want an Unpaid Internship So You Can Get Valuable Experience ?

Re:Want an Unpaid Internship So You Can Get Valuable Experie... by ahoyhere on Saturday September 05, 2009 @12:31PM (#806709)

Then look at it this way. Barter is taxed, and working for free for "experience" is clearly a form of barter.

Unpaid internships still must be taxed. They will probably be taxed at a higher prevailing wage than minimum wage.

So, you have tax payment going on, while no employment paying is going on.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, rich or reasonably well-off kids can take free internships, which creates more free internships, which creates competition for free internships. And those smart, deserving, motivated kids who can't afford to work utterly for free cannot compete for free internships and instead have to work at McDonald's or some other, less useful job.

If the internships are paid, everyone is better off... except, perhaps, the employer who hoped to get free labor. (But who still has to pay taxes, natch.)

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Re:Want an Unpaid Internship So You Can Get Valuable Experie... by apotheon on Saturday September 05, 2009 @12:44PM (#806726)

> If the internships are paid, everyone is better off

You're assuming that the cost of providing internships is essentially zero. When the likelihood of internships being offered at all (based on cost) is factored into things, your argument falls apart.

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