You're sitting in a glass-walled conference room in Midtown or maybe a startup hub in Austin, clutching a lukewarm latte you bought with money you don’t really have. You’ve been here for six hours. You’ve formatted spreadsheets, drafted emails, and maybe even sat in on a "high-level strategy" meeting where no one asked your name. At the end of the month, your bank account balance won't move an inch. Not a cent. Honestly, it's a bizarre ritual. We’ve accepted this idea that "experience" is a valid form of legal tender, but you can’t pay rent with a LinkedIn recommendation. That’s why the conversation around why unpaid internships should be illegal has shifted from a radical student grievance to a serious policy debate involving labor economists and federal regulators.
It’s about fairness. Or the lack of it.
If you can afford to work for free for three months in a city like New York or San Francisco, you probably come from a safety net made of gold thread. For everyone else? The door is barred. We're essentially seeing a system where the best entry-level roles are reserved for the wealthy, creating a permanent class divide before a career even starts. It's not just "paying your dues." It's systemic exclusion.
The legal gray area that is actually pretty black and white
Most people think unpaid internships are just a standard part of the corporate ecosystem. They aren’t. The Department of Labor (DOL) has a "primary beneficiary test" that is supposed to determine whether an intern is actually an employee. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), if the company is getting more value out of you than you are getting out of them, they have to pay you. Period.
The test looks at things like whether the intern’s work complements the work of paid employees or displaces them. If you’re doing the job of a junior staffer—answering phones, filing actual legal documents, or managing a brand's social media—you’re a worker. You’re not a student observing. You're labor.
Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation, has been beating this drum for years. He argues that the explosion of these roles has essentially wiped out entry-level jobs. Why hire a junior coordinator for $45,000 a year when you can cycle through three "ambitious" interns every four months for the price of a few boxes of pizza? It’s a race to the bottom that suppresses wages for everyone, not just the students.
Why the "learning experience" defense is mostly nonsense
Companies love to talk about "mentorship." They’ll tell you that the "knowledge transfer" is worth more than a paycheck. But let's be real. Real mentorship happens when a senior leader takes a genuine interest in your trajectory. In many firms, the intern is just a ghost in the machine.
There’s a massive difference between shadowing a surgeon and being the person who makes sure the surgeon’s favorite Sparkling Water is always in the fridge. One is education. The other is an errand runner. When we argue unpaid internships should be illegal, we’re targeting the exploitation of that distinction.
The social cost of working for "exposure"
Exposure is what people die of in the woods. It shouldn't be a compensation model.
When a prestigious magazine or a powerhouse tech firm offers an unpaid summer stint, they aren't looking for the "best" talent. They are looking for the "most available" talent. This creates a massive diversity problem. Data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) consistently shows that students of color and first-generation college students are less likely to take unpaid internships. Why? Because they literally can't afford to.
If you're working 40 hours a week for free, when are you supposed to work the shift at the diner to pay for your groceries? You don't. You burn out, or you don't apply at all. This means the future leadership of our major industries remains white, wealthy, and disconnected from the reality of the average person. It’s a cycle that feeds itself.
- The wealthy get the internship.
- The internship leads to the job.
- The job leads to the wealth.
If we want to actually move the needle on corporate diversity, the first step isn't a DEI seminar. It's a paycheck.
📖 Related: 40 Ethereum to USD: What Most People Get Wrong About This $130,000 Milestone
What the courts have actually said
Remember the Fox Searchlight case? It was a big deal. Interns on the movie Black Swan sued because they were doing basic production work—fetching coffee, taking out trash—without pay. A lower court initially agreed they were employees, but an appeals court later softened the criteria, moving toward the "primary beneficiary" test we use today. It made it harder for interns to win class-action suits, but it didn't make the practice ethical.
In the UK, the rules are even tighter. If you have set hours and set tasks, you’re a "worker" and entitled to the National Minimum Wage. The US is still lagging. We have this weird cultural obsession with "the hustle" that makes us feel like complaining about non-payment is a sign of weakness. It’s not. It’s an understanding of contract law.
It’s bad for the economy, too
When thousands of young people spend their summers producing value for zero dollars, that's capital being sucked out of the consumer economy. That’s rent not being paid, clothes not being bought, and student loans gathering interest while the person holding them earns nothing. It’s a drag on growth.
Moreover, NACE research has found a startling statistic: unpaid interns are often no more likely to get a job offer than people who did no internship at all. Paid interns, however, have a significantly higher success rate. This suggests that unpaid internships are often "junk" roles that don't actually provide the high-level skills that employers value. You're not learning to lead; you're learning to be invisible.
The psychological toll of being "the intern"
There is a subtle, corrosive effect on your self-worth when you spend months working alongside people who are getting paid to do similar tasks. You start to feel like your time is inherently worthless. It sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of your career. You become the person who doesn't negotiate for a raise. You become the person who says "yes" to unpaid overtime because you’ve been conditioned to think your labor is a gift you give to the company.
We need to stop romanticizing the struggle.
Making the change: Practical steps for everyone
If you’re a student, an employer, or just someone tired of seeing the ladder of opportunity get its bottom rungs kicked out, there are things to do. We can't just wait for a massive federal overhaul that might take a decade.
For the student or job seeker:
Know your rights. If the "internship" involves you doing the core work of the company without supervision, it’s probably illegal. Ask during the interview: "What does the structured learning component of this role look like?" If they stammer, run. Or better yet, report it to the state labor board. Also, look for "micro-internships"—short-term, paid professional assignments. They are becoming a popular, more equitable alternative.
For the manager or business owner:
Budget for your interns. If you can't afford to pay an intern at least the local minimum wage, you cannot afford to have an intern. It's a line item in your budget, not a loophole for free labor. Paying your interns ensures you get a wider pool of applicants, which almost always results in better work. You’ll also find that paid interns are more engaged and productive because they feel respected.
For the policy advocates:
Push for local and state legislation. Some states are already moving toward stricter definitions that favor the worker. Support organizations like Pay Our Interns, which has successfully lobbied for increased funding for paid internships in Congress.
A future without the "free" worker
The argument that unpaid internships should be illegal isn't about being "entitled." It's about the basic economic principle that labor has value. When we allow companies to bypass the minimum wage, we undermine the entire foundation of labor protections that took a century to build.
Eliminating the unpaid model forces companies to be more intentional. They have to actually train people. They have to hire based on merit rather than who can afford to show up. It levels the playing field in a way that no "mentorship program" ever could.
Stop accepting "experience" as a currency. Experience doesn't buy groceries. It's time to close the loophole and ensure that every hour of work is met with the dignity of a paycheck.
👉 See also: The Janesville GM Assembly Plant: What Really Happened to Wisconsin’s Industrial Heart
Next Steps for Action:
- Audit your current company: If you are in a leadership position, check your intern program against the DOL "primary beneficiary" test. If it fails, start the process to transition those roles to paid positions in the next fiscal year.
- Review your university's job board: If you are a student or alum, pressure your career services office to ban unpaid listings that do not offer academic credit or meet strict educational criteria.
- Document your work: If you are currently in an unpaid role, keep a log of your daily tasks. If you are performing the duties of a regular employee, you may have grounds for a back-pay claim under the FLSA.