One of the big problems with unpaid internships is the way they reproduce inequality: So many of the best career opportunities require internships, and only people who are at least upper middle class to begin with can afford to work for free, making it even harder for people who don't start out ahead to get ahead. Lately there's been increasing pushback against the intern economy, and now the campaign is focusing on a set of internships that are a great case in point:
White House internships.
The Fair Pay Campaign, a grassroots lobby set to launch around Labor Day, is calling on President Obama to pay White House interns in order to set an example for other government agencies and private employers.
"We have a minimum wage law in this country, and just because you call someone an intern doesn't mean you get out of it," said Mikey Franklin, the leader of Fair Pay's charge.
According to the White House website, its internships are unpaid, housing isn't provided, and interns should expect to work "at least Monday-Friday, 9 am-6 pm."
As the Fair Pay Campaign points out, there's something of a disconnect between President Obama's (absolutely correct)
view that "no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty." And sure, most White House interns don't live in poverty. But that's not because of their full-time White House work. It's because the young adults who have to rely on their own work to support themselves are excluded from the internships by the lack of pay.
Really, who can live in Washington, D.C., and work "at least" full-time for free? Not young adults with big student loans and parents who can't give them rent money, that's for sure. So the opportunities to make connections, see how the government works, and get a very impressive resume item are off limits for many of those who would most benefit from them. Yes, we'll hear that the government can't afford to pay a few extra people minimum wage. But right now, the choice is between that and the government actively, directly creating inequality at the moment young people's careers are starting.