Which unpaid internships are a crime against future generations? (By Companies: No! By NGOs: Yes!)
In the following article I want to argue for the following idea: If companies offer unpaid internships, it is ethically correct. If NGOs offer unpaid internships, it is ethically incorrect.
The last couple of years coined a new term for my generation: Génération précaire or generation in danger. In a short summary, it basically means that our society drifts towards a stage in which young people are systematically exploited – through unpaid internships, a heavy burden to finance the intergenerational contract, or through increased payments for education.
That this is becoming a global and political phenomena can be seen on internet platforms (Génération précaire, Generation Praktikum), blogs (Unfair internships, Generation Debt) and even in social networks such as StudiVZ which now has its own group to discuss this issue.
The debate is only starting, but I find the heuristics developed by other websites quite good (from unfairinternships.wordpress.com/faq/).
What’s an “unfair internship”?
It’s an entry-level position with normal responsibilities that benefit the employer but called an “internship”? so as to avoid paying an entry-level salary or any salary at all.
What’s a “fair internship”?
It’s an internship that should be called an apprenticeship: the intern receives a lot of coaching (more than a regular new staff), his presence is more of a burden than a benefit for the organization. If the intern receives an entry-level salary, with normal responsibilities, it’s a job by another name.
Does a stipend make an internship “fair”?
No. A normal salary covers more than housing and food costs.
This reflects pretty much what I think: I also have had unpaid internships, such as in the Global Contract Foundation or the Bavarian Representation in Brussels. Some were helpful and I learned a lot (such as in Brussels), in others I had the feeling that I was nothing more than a tool to deliver the jobs nobody else wanted to do.
But what is the ethical issue here? An economist would probably answer that unpaid internships simply fulfill a demand that is there – and if people are ready to work for free then why should one be opposed to that?
Of course the issue is not that easy. Demand for an article X can be generated through two methods: either article X genuinely improves a person’s utility (in other words, makes him a little bit happier then without X), or the loss of an article X decreases a person’s utility. Now a lot of things have both aspects: look for instance at advertisement. If a company advertises, it will increase its sales (and thus improve its utility). If all its competitors advertise, advertisement will not increase its sales, but to forego advertisement would be disadvantageous (the structure then resembles much the decision-theoretic model of a prisoner dilemma.
The same is the case with internships: a lot of internships truly help a person and thus less or little pay if often accept. But if everybody offers themselves for unpaid internships, then not offering unpaid internships is disadvantegous. So demand does not equal demand – it depends on the market structure.
Now, this is not the place to start a debate on whether a certain demand is genuine, real, artificial or enforced – and even less the place to discuss whether the demand for unpaid internships is genuine, real, artificial or enforced.
Instead I want to discuss whether there is a difference between unpaid internships in companies and unpaid internships in NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations). I want to argue for the following provocative thesis: If companies offer unpaid internships, it is ethically correct. If NGOs offer unpaid internships, it is ethically incorrect.
In generally I would agree that in any kind of economical system, the main aim of companies is to be profitable, to generate revenue, wealth, income, to be innovative, to react to markets – all of which are to a large extent synonyms in a neo-classic economic thinking (although depending on the market structures, profitability, innovativeness or market-reactivity are not always similar – something at length discussed in political and economic science).
So if the market structures allow unpaid internships – or for that matter even unpaid jobs, then there is no ethical contradiction with the aim of the company. This is not to say that we as consumers have to put up with that – if consumers demand Corporate Social Responsibility from companies or if citizens demand from politicians to enforce CSR-related laws, their market structure changes and companies will react to that. But it’s not a question of ethics – but of politics and economics. Many companies are well-advised to pay something for their interns – simply because otherwise they will not get the commitment that they need for staying profitable.
The issue is all too different with NGOs. For many NGOs social responsibility is an inherent issue, it is their main aim to further one aspect of social responsibility, their main taks is to set the public agenda for strengthening ethical behaviour.
If NGOs which claim these ethical grounds do not commit themselves to these goals, they completely ridicule themselves. They have no moral ground to argue from – instead they are just speakers of empty phrases with no meaning. If an NGO such as the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations (SRzG) accuses politicians to neglect the interests of future generations, but at the same time hires unpaid interns – then their claims loose their moral ground. If a foundation such as the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation whose moral strength is its commitment to solidarity hires unpaid interns in its education centers such as in Kochel, then their work looses its moral ground. If an NGO like the Global Contract Foundation hires unpaid interns to work for their Global Marshall Plan campaign for a more sustainable world development, then their claims loose their moral ground.
Now often the NGOs will answer that they are simply not in the situation to pay interns. This is for instance the main argument of the Global Contract Foundation – but this argument is wrong: if NGOs make the right financial decisions, they would be able to at least pay a nominal fee, cover expenses such as housing, traveling and food.
NGOs will also claim that their interns have lots of benefits, such as interesting working environment and responsiblity for their own project. However this is a rather arrogant claim – since this is the reason why interns apply anyway. It’s as saying: “You should work for free because you like it here” – why not say “If we pay you, then you will like it here even more.”?
NGOs will also claim that they do give some kind of financial benefits. Jörg Tremmel from the Rights of Future Generations argued in a conversation with me that the Foundation gives free lodgings to interns – but would anybody work for no money in the little rather boring town of Oberursel if he would have to pay his own lodgings? Probably not! Heiko Tammena from the FES-institute in Kochel says that his institute pays 52 Euros for the food and lodgings of their interns – since this is the rate that they charge to visitors. However such a calculation is rather tricky.
In both cases the solution is remarkably simple: if the claimed costs really occur, then why is it not possible to give the money directly to the interns (as a sort of wage) and ask them to decide whether they want to use the lodgings offered by the NGOs. The reason is: the costs claimed by Jörg Tremmel and Heiko Tammena are not real costs that are caused by the interns. In the case of Oberursel, the SRZG would have to pay for the house in any case, regardless whether interns live there or not. In the case of Kochel, one should consider the additional (marginal) costs of another person working and living in the institutions. Obviously if the kitchen cooks for 100 people, the 101th person does not cause costs for 52 Euros.
The end of the story is this: NGOs that claim a moral ground should not hire unpaid interns. They should make it their goal to pay at least a small compensation and have the interns participate in what the NGOs receive as income!
Oktober 30th, 2006 at 02:26
Oh, just one more thing. Jörg Tremmel from the SRZG wrote to me that he paid 1280 Euro for Internship Salaries in 2006.(so far) Given about three to four interns which work there during one month, this amounts to about 40 Euro per Person per month. Not great, but at least a little bit.
November 1st, 2006 at 02:25
At the ForumZD in Bonn, the salary for interns is 130 Euro per month. And by the Way, Jörg Tremmel contacted me again saying that sometimes up to 400 Euros were paid as an additional salary to his interns. Unfortunately so far he has not responded to my questions what the criteria were for these bonus incentives.
November 8th, 2006 at 23:21
Well, I mainly volunteer for NGOs. That means I work for them because it´s a good thing, not to earn my life from this. I believe it´s necessary that perple who work for NGOs get a good income, but doing an internship is normally unpayed – students should do it because they want to change the world, not to earn money. What you are trying to do is stopping volunteers.
November 17th, 2006 at 05:56
Well, for me it is’nt okay if companies ask trainees to work for nothing or very little many, too. And actually there are different things about being paid. As we’re students with a high intellectual potential we’re able to add a high value to the company. Money is one way of honoring this. Another point is that even students (who usually know how to get along with a little money) need to cover their living costs somehow. Getting paid for a traineeship is not about becoming rich.
November 17th, 2006 at 12:14
Yes, that’s absolutely true. I think it is also false, but I don’t think it is a question of morality. Yet I think there should be laws against this and people should make those cases public! But with NGOs, I think it is a problem of morality – because they are undermining their own purpose.
Januar 7th, 2007 at 21:02
Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), an NGO with offices in Geneva, Dakar and New York, is also offering unpaid internships. I don’t doubt that the NGO is doing good work, but if it can afford offices in Geneva, Dakar and New York, it should at least be able to pay for living expenses. Scandalous!
Found at http://unjobs.org/vacancies/1165595293.06
November 30th, 2007 at 14:15
i know this problematic
i have done some internships, unpaid, my work was never of responsability, interns are free secretaries
but finally the problem stay: how to get a job in an international organisation?
i am 29 years old, have a master and im fluent in 4 languages, i have 3 years of working experience. and now i start to apply for internship again. why? i dont find a job. i feel humiliated, but im completely lost