Unpaid internship trend may penalise poorer job seekers, study finds
Wednesday 18 January 2017 ABC
More job hunters are doing unpaid internships, and this trend may disadvantage those who can't afford to work for free, as well as people in regional areas, the authors of a new report say.
The report by the Commonwealth Department of Employment is the first to look at exactly how common unpaid work experience (UWE) has become in Australia. It found 58 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds had done UWE in the past five years. It also found that internships are not only for young people - 26 per cent of 30 to 64-year-olds had done UWE in this period.
Almost two-thirds of 18 to 29-year-olds from the top wealth bracket had done UWE, compared to about half of those from the lowest bracket (64 per cent v 53 per cent).
This points to an 'access gap' for young people from poorer backgrounds. UWE effectively costs money, and so it favours young people who are being financially supported by their parents.
In the UK, MPs have called for a ban on unpaid internships, which they say disadvantage working class young people.
UWE may also favour young people in cities, according to the study.
Young people not in a city or town were less likely to have done unpaid work placements than people living in capital cities (24 per cent to 36 per cent).
That's a double blow for young people in regional areas such as outback Queensland where the worst youth unemployment rates are to be found.
The number of young people out of work has skyrocketed since 2008.
Before the global financial crisis, 54 per cent of 20-24-year-olds were in full-time work. By 2013, this was down to 44 per cent, and now, only 39 per cent have a full-time job.
Paying to do unpaid work
The survey also looked at the costs of doing a UWE.
Over a quarter reduced their hours of paid employment in order to participate in UWE. One in five organised and paid for their own insurance. More than one in ten paid money to a broker, agent or directly to the organisation to take part in the UWE, and nearly one in four had to travel longer than one hour to get to their UWE host.
One of the researchers, Dr Damian Oliver of UTS Business School, said the survey found that young people from wealthy backgrounds were more likely to cut back hours of paid work to do UWE.
"Socioeconomic background does have an impact on how young people are able to participate," he said.
"If that is having an impact on who gets job in the labour market - and we know youth unemployment in particular is a growing problem - then young people from low socio-economic backgrounds are missing out."
Dr Oliver said previous studies had suggested internships were becoming increasingly common, although, unlike this study, they hadn't given an exact figure. We now know how widespread UWE is in Australia, but it's hard to say how much more common it has become.
"It’s perhaps surprising a quarter of people aged 30 or over reported doing unpaid work experience in the last five years," he said.
"This is not just young people starting out in the workforce - it's also people who have lost jobs and are re-entering."
Unpaid interns 'very satisfied'
Those who had done internships or placements reported very high levels of satisfaction. Most thought the UWE would help them find employment, and about a quarter reported the UWE directly led to an offer of paid work by their host organisaiton.
"I think that's quite high," Dr Oliver said.
"For some industries it's much higher. The data could suggest some industries were using unpaid work experience or internships much more as a means of recruiting into that industry."
UWE for 18 to 29-year-olds was most common in social services, education, health care, and media and fashion.
About one-third of UWE placements for young people lasted longer than a month. Typically UWE lasted between a week and a month.
They research was done by Dr Damian Oliver of UTS Business School, Professor Paula McDonald of QUT, and Professor Andrew Stewart and Associate Professor Anne Hewitt of Adelaide Law School.
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