Unpaid internships really do need to be abolished.
Dude, i don’t know what to twll you but IMO ramen noodles are friggin’ expensive here compared to the US. 4 for 1$ VS 1 for .75/.90€… ramen noodles aint the go to here for cheap eats.
True! Guardian is British but still, they need a better analogy.
Out of curiosity, what is the dirt-cheap meal of choice in the UK if it’s not Ramen?
I am a professor as several different schools in France (business, notarial studies, agricultural engineers, communication). I would day 95% of my students are from well-to-do families. But, most of them are required to find paid internships. The notary students usually get unpaid internships.
As an internship advisor, I can confirm one thing: paid or not, they put in the hours and take the same crap as a paid employee. Sometimes it is worse. For example, if an intern is absent from work, the message gets to me, and I send it up the chain of command and sometimes parents get involved. It is stressful for the students. My business students get paid internships (about €1400/month) but still need help from their parents and many of them will be doing something they don’t really want to do (think finance instead of marketing).
Now, being a professor I am in contact with a rather large network of of profs spanning the private and public sector… My colleagues from the public sector are worried about this looming change to laws. It would lead to an overhaul of the system as the internship is counted as a credit. If it is decided that they should be paid, how many companies will want to pay when they can just hire a part-timer for the summer?
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The internships, one unpaid and the other providing a token €400 (£344) a month, chipped away at his savings from summer jobs and forced him to keep a constant watch on his spending.
The result are internship experiences that vary wildly; from those that offer training and a stepping stone to a career, to others that simply use young people as a form of cheap or unpaid labour.
Research suggests that young people are shelling out an average of €1,028 (£885) a month to cover their living costs during internships, noted Mark McNulty, of the European Youth Forum.
Those from families who can help them bear these costs have an advantage, allowing them greater access to sectors such as the media and NGOs, where unpaid internships are rife.
In 2014, France set out regulations on internships and limited unpaid stints to a maximum of two months, while Romania has required companies to pay interns a stipend since 2019.
The draft legislation, expected to be completed in early 2024, will set off a race against time, said Rodríguez Alcázar, as the European parliament seeks to have it approved before elections in June.
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