In these first few weeks of the spring semester, we begin to depart from the season to apply for summer internships you actually want in favor of entering the season of scraping the bottom of the barrel for whatever gopher job will still take on your resume. For many of the fields that college trains us for, at least one internship will be a vital piece of future job applications — it’s a career choice the same way eating food is a lifestyle choice.
Despite the veritable necessity of having an internship under your belt by the time you graduate, more than one if you want an especially attractive resume, many internships, particularly government internships, are unpaid.
That’s all well and good if you can afford to go a summer without being paid. I am lucky — I live in D.C. during the summer, where there is an abundance of internships. For interns who live in cities where there are fewer opportunities, they will probably have to pay rent in another city, which can be a high price for someone who’s earning no money to work what can be a full-time job.
For example, in 2013, only 35 of 100 senators paid their interns, and 11 of those only paid during certain months or under certain conditions. Out of all four current congressmen running in the primaries only Bernie Sanders pays his congressional interns, although Rand Paul does provide them a stipend to cover housing expenses. However, a single person living in Washington D.C. for three months would spend, on average, $3,500 to do so, which means that in order to afford working for 65 percent of our senators, interns must either pay this cost out of pocket or work at least 28 hours a week at a minimum wage job in addition to the duties of their internship.
Given that the average senator is paid $174,000 a year, which is close to twice what the average man with an advanced degree would make, I am less than sympathetic to the professed inability of these people to pay their interns, at the very least, D.C. minimum wage.
Speaking of which, President Obama, who earns $400,000 a year, also does not pay his interns, which adds just a dash of hypocrisy to his push for a higher minimum wage.
You will hear some people say that the benefits of these unpaid internships outweigh the fact that they are unpaid — after all, you can get college credit for most of them, and they’re a valuable item on your resume. But, firstly, getting college credit can mean that you have to pay your university in addition to your living expenses. And secondly, while you undeniably get work experience and learn valuable things during unpaid internships, they’re actually not much better for your employment after graduation than having no internships at all.
Not to mention that unpaid internships are not technically employees and therefore are not protected by anti-discrimination or even sexual harassment laws in some states.
There may genuinely be employers who are financially unable to provide adequately paid internships — those are people who should not be hiring employees they cannot afford to pay. It’s clearly unfair to college students who are already paying ridiculous rates for tuition to allow us to work 20 to 60 hours a week without any compensation or legal protection from mistreatment.
As a last thought, one other presidential candidate who pays his interns? Donald Trump.
If only our government could catch up to that guy.