By SIMONE BOYD, AUDREY LATSU & JT MOODEE LOCKMAN
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
It’s difficult to find any students who defend the idea of unpaid internships. Yet there are differing opinions about the extent to which they are harmful.
A Towson University junior who completed a survey on unpaid internships had a positive experience during an internship but said it is unfortunate because people still need to make money and with the internship they won’t have time to get a paid job at the same time.
Others argue that it’s free labor and unfair to young, hungry employees. A Towson sophomore said on the survey that unpaid internships take advantage of individuals in or recently out of college who need money and work experience. She said even if the pay is not lot, it is better than nothing at all.
Towson junior Laura Kernizan had high expectations about finding a paid internship. However, while searching for internships in the communications field, she noticed how many stated they were either unpaid, or simply didn’t include anything about pay in the description.
“Companies know we need the experience, so we are pretty much used at their whim,” Kernizan said.
Internships are a big part of college life, giving students hands-on experience and a leg up on the job market. And a significant number do not pay students. Studies show that students who do paid internships are at a significant advantage when trying to find full-time work.
To explore this topic, we surveyed students at Towson University about their views of unpaid internships, and analyzed three media job websites: Indeed, MediaBistro and Journalismjobs.com to examine the extent to which unpaid internships are commonplace.
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The majority of media internships examined are unpaid
Our analysis, spanning January-April 2019 (only looking at posted internships that referenced whether they were paid or unpaid), found that roughly 66% of internships in media fields were unpaid.
The highest number of paid internships came from journalism — broadcast and multimedia/print. However, the highest number of unpaid jobs also came from journalism, in large part because these were among the most common jobs listed.
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Among the companies that paid their interns were: Democracy Fund ($21/hr), Edelman($14/hr), Tribune Media Broadcasting ($8.60/hr) and AOPA($18.50/hr).
Survey results revealed that 60% agreed that they had encountered more unpaid than paid internships online. A Time article cited research that more than half of internships are unpaid.
Roughy two-thirds of survey participants said it is “very important” that an internship is paid, and 35% said it is “somewhat important.”
Students are willing to take unpaid work if there are added incentives
The majority (64%) of survey participants agreed colleges should offer more scholarships that go toward unpaid internships or internship experiences in general. Only 15% of participants stated when applying to internships one of their main objectives was financial gain. Experience (45%) was the most common answer. Furthermore, 58% of participants stated that they agreed or somewhat agreed that unpaid internships were only available to individuals that had the financial means.
The majority of students said they had been deterred from applying to an internship because it wasn’t paid.
Unpaid internships accentuate the socio-economic gap among many students, with those who can afford to live in expensive cities while working for free often getting prestigious internships that others won’t apply for. Unpaid internships can create financial hardships for students, and if they choose to not accept an unpaid internship this could make it more difficult for them to attain a job in their field.
Research from Denise F. DiRienzo of St. John Fisher College found that students are less likely to take on an unpaid internship if the financial drawback will negatively impact their day-to-day lives.
Michaela Frischherz, an assistant professor in Towson’s Communication Studies department and its internship coordinator, said: “Often students can’t make an unpaid experience work, but some do —earning academic credit helps achieve major credit (even if the internship is not paid).”
Students believe paid internships offer more engaging work and a more enriching experience than unpaid positions
Eight out of 22 senior students who responded to our survey reported that unpaid internships consisted of a less substantial workload than paid internships, leaving them feeling as though they only did busy work. One senior stated that, “paid internships treat the interns more like an employee and are more serious.” Students even acknowledged that the lack of engaging and interesting work at unpaid internships caused them to be distracted and indifferent while in the office. Another senior reported the “unpaid internship did not care if I sat there and watched paint dry. It seems like when I’m not working on someone’s dime they don’t care about you.”
The majority of students reported that they felt undervalued by the company and those they worked with, while those with paid internship experience were treated as legitimate employees and gained a more meaningful experience.
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Our survey found that 17% of students who noticed a significant difference in the workload of paid and unpaid internships were mass communication majors. Communication studies majors noted that both paid and unpaid internships required a lot of work — the only difference was simply that one did not have any financial compensation. Many students reported that they would be willing to accept an unpaid internship if it was based locally, but others would rather follow the money and opportunity.
New York City and Washington are the regions with the most internship positions
New York offers the most amount of paid and unpaid internship positions: 24% of internship positions were listed as being in New York. Washington, D.C. had the second most internship opportunities, but had far fewer (12% of all on the list) than New York.
In New York, only 9% of internships postings were paid. In Washington, two-thirds were paid.
There were comparably fewer internship postings in the other regions of the country.