Published originally as a LinkedIn article December 6, 2018.

I’ve been waiting for a champion, with a national platform, to speak up against the practice of unpaid internships. I just found her. Newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines for tweeting about the need for Congress to pay a D.C. living wage to congressional staff and pay congressional interns.  It’s been a long-standing practice for Congress not to pay their interns. Last year, Pay Our Interns published a report “Experience Doesn’t Pay the Bills,” which identified the congressional offices who pay their interns. Members of Congress were identified as either paying interns a salary, a stipend, or not paying them at all. Even before it was published, the report made an immediate impact. A handful of lawmakers committed to start paying their interns. California Senator Kamala Harris, for example, was listed as pledging to start paying her interns. The report also points out that full-time jobs in Congress usually require Congressional internship experience. In other words, if you don’t intern in Congress, it is less likely you’ll get hired for an entry-level Congressional staff position.

It’s not just Congress who doesn’t pay its interns.  Earlier this year, the U.S. Labor Department rolled out new rules that make it easier for employers to continue the unpaid internship practice. The new labor guidelines follow a 2015 federal appeals court ruling in favor of Fox Searchlight Pictures, sued by former unpaid interns who worked on the Black Swan film. In that case, a federal appeals court ruled that companies may legally use unpaid interns if the interns benefit more from the internship experience than the employer. While unpaid internships are legal, I’d like to submit they are unfair. Not only do unpaid internships hurt low-income students, they stifle workforce diversity. According to 2017 census data, African-American and Hispanic households fall well below the median household income of $59,039. Hence, unpaid internships disproportionally disadvantage Black and Latina/o students because they burden low-income students the most. When low-income students take an unpaid internship, they still need to work a paying job. Otherwise, who is going to pay the bills or the rent? Not mom or dad.

As an educator focused on developing career paths for students, I understand the importance of internships in the lives of college students. To be competitive in the workforce, students need career-relevant experience. Public Relations students who want to work at a PR agency, for example, need internship agency experience. One of the biggest barriers to getting a career-relevant job after graduating from college is the lack of career-relevant experience. As an educator working in one of the largest state campuses in California, I also know that low-income students can’t afford to work for free. A recent California State University (CSU) study reported that 41.6% of CSU students face food insecurity — they go hungry for lack of access to food — and 11% report to be homeless.  Organizations who offer unpaid internships need to understand the consequences of this unfair practice.

If employers want to increase diversity in their workforce, if they want to support the children of working families, then they must invest in paid internship programs. College students, especially low-income college students, should not be asked to work for free.