People will work for free for a job
College graduates aren’t the only ones attempting to get unpaid internships right now. For the 14 million unemployed, you will find only enough jobs being created in the economy for a sixth of them. Not only that, but unpaid labor is beginning to include seasonal workers now. Although you will find few official statistics about unpaid labor, all it takes is a quick look at the job listings on Craigslist to see that businesses are exploiting workers ranging from accountants to nurses who will work for free now in hopes of a paying job later. Businesses sometimes don’t get very good employees that way even though it could be really great for some unpaid workers to get the experience and references. Businesses could be better off just paying an employee. This is because unpaid workers are not easy to handle most of the time.
unpaid internships
The federal government has noticed that, since the recession, there have been a lot more people taking illegal unpaid labor. A report was issued last April by the Economic Policy Institute. "Not So Equal Protection -- Reforming the Regulation of Student Internships," was what it was called. The point of the report was to get unpaid internship regulation on a federal level. To be able to keep a healthy labor market and stop wages from going down anymore after the 40 years of decrease on top of keeping unpaid workers protected, the unpaid internship regulation has to be reformed, suggests the report. Businesses are encouraged to do more internship instead of hiring workers because of the lack of regulation making it simple to hire unpaid workers.
Unpaid labor regulations
More regulation is what the institute is hoping to get. Nevertheless, federal and state rules say that minimum wage and overtime have to be paid legally. Larger corporations planning to take advantage of unpaid labor must follow provisions in the Fair labor Standards Act. An internship cannot replace a paid position while benefiting the intern more than the company in accordance with the FLSA. Back pay is needed when a business is caught doing this. The company also has to pay $1,100 per violation and all of the damages. Corporations that make less than $500,000 in revenue is considered a small business to the FLSA and do not have to follow the rules. The FLSA exemption is forfeited by a business if it does interstate commerce as simple as taking credit cards and calling another state.
Citations
Fortune
management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/25/unpaid-jobs-the-new-normal/
Inc.com
inc.com/news/articles/2010/04/what-unpaid-interns-could-cost-you.html
The Hoya
thehoya.com/news/interns-pick-experience-over-pay-1.2124349
Source of article - Trend of unpaid labor threatens to further undermine job market by MoneyBlogNewz.
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