Paid internships are on the rise, but competition increases as amount of internships decreases due to stricter labor laws.

Photo from Education-Portal

Internships have become essential learning experiences for any college student in any major. They used to solely be seen as educational, but now are necessary for any student looking for a job. Internships are valuable for students because it allows for exposure to a desired industry, networking, and resume building opportunities. Employers choose to have interns because they are a cost-effective recruiting strategy, provide fresh perspectives and can assist with a number of projects.

 

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, over 75 percent of students will have an internship by the time they graduate.  At the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, students are required to have an internship to graduate. A growing amount, 52 percent, however, will hold more than one across their college career. Internships allow students to practice their skills in a professional environment.

Employers reported to the National Association of Colleges and Employers that 97.5 percent of their internships would be paid in 2014, but the amount of internship opportunities would decrease.

Number of Internships Students have
while in College Graphic created
by Jaclyn Turner via Survey Monkey

The above statistic proves that paid internships are a growing trend. However, two-thirds of employers chose to decrease intern hires in 2014, except in the Northeast, where internship increased 10 percent.

However, out of 100 students who completed a Survey Monkey, 58 have had an internship, and only 57 percent of those students have had at least one paid internship- a large discrepancy from NACE’s projection.  Of these students who were paid, only four were journalism majors. The rest were in business or engineering fields. 

Two-thirds of the students applied for two or more internships before receiving one. It took most students responding three to five applications before securing an internship. Of the 33 students who have had a paid internship, 67 percent applied to two or more sites before finding a placement.  

Number of Internships that have
been paid, measured in percentage.
Graphic created by Jaclyn Turner
via Survey Monkey 

Of the 23 who have had no paid internships, 15 of whom are students at the University of Maryland, 72 percent are usually applying to two or more internships.  

Eleven students (out of the 42 who have had zero internships) who participated in the survey and who have applied for internships, still have not found a match.

Also, the majority of students with paid internships, were not students at the University of Maryland. A further topic that could be examined at a later date is does one’s college affect if one get’s paid?

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires organizations to pay interns if the employer receives any benefit.

The Fair Labor Standards Act qualifies when an internship may be unpaid. 

In 2010, the US Department of Labor created a six credential test: must be similar to the training an intern would receive in an educational environment, is for the benefit of the intern, does not displace regular employees, has no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, the intern is not entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship, and both employer and intern understand that the intern is not entitled to payment.

If a business does not meet these six requirements, a for-profit organization must pay interns for work performed with an hourly salary or stipend, as it is viewed as being employed.   Organizations often try to get around paying interns by requiring students to supply documentation that they can receive school credit. 

Philip Merrill College at the University of Maryland internships and career development director, Adrianne Flynn discussed how the FLSA affected the amount of internships available to students.  

If interns are not paid, the internship may be illegal if any of those six rules are not met, and students have the right to sue for payment. The website, Unpaid Interns Lawsuit, is a tool to help interns who were exploited for their talents during internships. 

Meanwhile, a rising demand for internships complimented by a decreasing amount of opportunities available due to these labor laws has created a frustrating dynamic and added competition for students who want internships.

High profile lawsuits regarding labor exploitation at media companies cause several organizations to cut back on internship programs to avoid similar repercussions.

Although more interns are being paid more often than ever before, students in some majors that filter into currently weak markets, such as journalism and communications, see the internships available shrinking as some employers do not have the budget to pay for interns or have had lawsuits filed against them for exploitation, and have since, cut their programs. 

No More Interns for Anna Wintour. 

Conde Nast most recently had to pay a $5.8 million dollar settlement to thousands of interns dating back to 2007 after two former interns working at W and The New Yorker created a lawsuit in which they stated they were paid less than a $1 an hour for their time. The interns would work 40-hours a week and did not receive a living wage.  The lawsuit prompted Conde Nast to stop its intern program in 2013 across all publications.

Propublica has a comprehensive tracker of all the internship lawsuits that have been filed since 2011 across a variety of fields such as healthcare, media, sports, entertainment, and law. Well-known companies slapped with internship lawsuits or criticism about their programs included Viacom, Lions Gate Entertainment, Leanin.com and Hearst  Corporation.

Wall Street Journal Reporter Rachel Feintzeig in a radio interview noted that the cuts will make the landscape more competitive as some organizations transition to paid internships but create fewer spots. According to NACE, interns make on average$17.94 an hour in 2014, an increase from last year. Flynn notes how the FLSA, which has prompted lawsuits and the downsizing of internships have affected the interns.   

There is a growing belief that if interns create professional quality work or do the work of a paid employee they should be paid. 

Internships today are treated as the equivalent of an entry-level job. Flynn, who is at the forefront of knowledge regarding media internships, understands all the reasons to why an intern should be paid, or not paid. 

Her personal stance is that interns should receive compensation for their work. 

Flynn thinks that interns should be paid if they are producing professional quality work, or at least replacing the entry-level employee the company might have hired in the past.

Flynn is not the only professional who believes interns should be paid, but perhaps for different reasons. Suzanne Lucas says that paying interns will lead to a higher quality intern selection for the business, leading to less training and more productive time accomplishing projects. According to political commentator Sanjay Sanghoee, who wrote a Fortune article, interns deserve at least a living stipend, but they shouldn’t necessarily be paid because internships are not jobs, but “training wheels.”  

Websites that post internship listings are also more interested in protecting the interest of the intern, with an increased emphasis on paid opportunities. Ed2010 for example charges publications if they want their internships listed on the website if internships are not paid.  Universities such as New York University require employers to certify that their internships measure up to the Department of Labor guidelines before it can go on its career website and Columbia University has completely gotten rid of internships for class credit to reduce chances for exploitation. Other colleges will not allow companies to post unpaid internships if they also offer paid opportunities on their websites too. 

Students in the survey would like to be paid for work completed at their internships too. If a paid opportunity is unavailable, students in the survey would like to have transportation reimbursed as well as course credits paid for when providing their free labor. Some universities such as the University of Richmond and Hamilton College are starting to pick up the tab for students to pursue internships at for-profit organizations, which levels the playing field for those who are affluent enough to afford a summer without pay. 

Unpaid internships are less likely to lead to a job than paid internships.

Internship Impact by
Major and Employment (NACE)

An article in The Atlantic showed the chart on the right stating that those with paid internships are more likely to find job placement after an internship experience than those with unpaid or no internship experiences.  Graduates with unpaid internships had full-time job offers at nearly the same rate as those who had no internship experiences at all—about 37 percent, compared with 62 percent for those with paid internships. The site also found that those who had unpaid internships were likely to receive a smaller salary than those who had a paid internship or didn’t have one at all. This shows that unpaid internships can be detrimental  to students down the road. 

Intern Bridge

Meanwhile, Intern Bridge,which provides resources for the unpaid intern, determined that GPA has no difference on who get’s paid and who doesn’t at an internship.  Therefore, application materials and past experience seem to have a heavier weight than grades.

Despite those findings, many interns, especially in the journalism field, try to have as many in-the-field experiences as possible.  Students are able to find internships if they try, but it might take more than one application to find a match. Paid internships are slowly becoming more commonplace across the country, although some industries need to catch up to the trend.