Tweet
Unpaid internships distort the jobs market. Even for middle-class kids they are wrong, says Colin Marsh
John Harris writes about the political rhetoric which, more and more, allows the unemployed to be used as unpaid labour (Working for peanuts – a new recipe for the likes of them, 24 August). I agree with his criticism of "mandatory work activity" whereby a claimant may have their benefit stopped or suspended if they decline the offer of such experience.
I am a careers adviser by profession who is currently unemployed – yes, I know! – and in receipt of jobseeker's allowance. I also volunteer on a heritage railway, so while I am quite happy to work for nothing at something I enjoy, there is a world of difference between this and being forced to work for my benefits.
I would have no objection to stacking shelves in Tesco – I have applied for such work in the past – but would expect to be paid. To be coerced into doing such work as a condition of receiving benefits is quite different, and I imagine that the manager of my local Tesco would have some difficulty justifying using someone as unpaid labour who he considered unsuitable for the work a few months earlier.
Is it not a case of unscrupulous employers conniving with the Department for Work and Pensions in a deceit and, at the same time, keeping their payroll costs down? It is more than 40 years since I studied economics, but I still tend to take the Keynesian approach, and if work needs doing it should be offered to the unemployed and properly remunerated, not used as some kind of stick to beat benefit claimants with.
But when Harris talks about "transposing a middle–class institution [ie work placements] to parts of the economy where it just doesn't fit", he appears to suggest that, while expecting the unemployed to stack shelves or clean up litter in return for their £67.50 a week is wrong, unpaid internships for middle-class graduates are OK.
I think that any unpaid work is immoral – whether, as Harris puts it, it is "Jocastas and Crispins … making the tea at City law firms" or "penurious weeks often spent at the bottom of the service sector".
The Crispins and Jocastas may be in a position to work for nothing in the hope of a job offer at some unspecified time in the future, but that does not mean that they should. Internships distort the labour market: they are often not advertised, so are only available to those in the know, and are just as much exploitation as expecting jobseeker's allowance claimants to work for free.
The bane of my life, as a university careers adviser, was those students who, because they could work for nothing, were likely to be shoehorned into the pick of the graduate opportunities, as compared to those forced to flip burgers or pull pints to earn money.
Harris quotes DWP minister Chris Grayling as saying "work experience is an excellent way for young people to gain the practical experience and showcase their talents". I don't argue with that, but exploitation is still exploitation, however you wrap it up.
- Voluntary sector
- Volunteering
- Voluntary sector
- Unemployment
- Social exclusion
- Poverty
- Unemployment and employment statistics
- Economics
- Welfare
- Conservatives
- Work Experience
- Work & careers
Colin Marsh
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
More...
