Unpaid Internships: The Debate

Unpaid internships are a hot topic at the moment, with a number of leading UK universities and job boards banning them and questions over there legality, it looks like time is being called on student and graduate free labour. But I’m not sure the issue is quite as black and white as first glance might suggest.

For me the debate centers around two contradicting issues –

• Unpaid internships are inherently unfair.
• Banning unpaid internships will undoubtably lead to a drop in the number of internships giving less opportunity for young people to get their foot on the career ladder.