These days, it is hard to find a job not only in Korea but all over the world. Therefore, performing an internship became an important qualification for getting a job. Along with this phenomenon, unpaid internships became prevalent, and many young people are pouring into public institutions and corporations to do these internships. According to the U.S. National Association of Colleges and Employers(NACE), more than 63% of the U.S. college seniors said they had worked as interns, and 48% of them said they were unpaid interns.
  Jeong Se-hwan(’14, Dept. of Environmental Engineering), who worked as an unpaid intern for the Embassy of the United States in Seoul, said, “While working at the embassy, I learned how real diplomacy works between the U.S. and Korea and began to understand a broader perspective by communicating with the workers in the U.S. State Department. I also could get information about studying in the U.S. quickly and more accurately. If I have a chance, I would like to do it again because I was very satisfied with the internship. However, I was disappointed that I had to rely on my parents while working there because I was unpaid. Everyone deserves to receive fair payment for labor, so I hope that more paid interns will be employed rather than unpaid interns.”
  Students like the aforementioned one who don’t have to earn money for college tuition fees or living expenses during the vacation could work as unpaid interns in public institutions or social organizations for their experience. However, students who need money immediately have to find paid part-time jobs, which are usually poor quality jobs. Furthermore, the unpaid internships are disadvantageous for those who don’t lack human networking or belong to the low-income bracket. The reason is that a student’s parents or other acquaintances often play a big role in finding promising internships.
  Furthermore, the unpaid interns are in a blind spot from the law. American unpaid interns are not dealt with in the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act(FLSA). This is due to a judgement by the Supreme Court in the lawsuit between Walling and Portland Terminal Co. in 1947. The ruling stated that the trainee shouldn’t be protected from the FLSA, which was established in 1938. However, since critical attention to this decision increased as time passed by, the U.S. Wage and Hour Division(WHD) came to the conclusion that for-profit businesses can recruit unpaid interns if they meet six criteria. The following are the six laws made by the U.S. Court:
  First, the internship has to be similar to training which would be given in an educational environment. Second, the internship experience is for the benefit of the intern. Third, the intern doesn’t displace regular employees and has to work under close supervision of existing staff. Fourth, the employer cannot gain any direct profit from doing it and needs to keep working even if his own work is delayed due to the training for the intern. Fifth, the intern isn’t necessarily entitled to the job at the conclusion of the internship. Sixth, the employer and the intern understand that the intern isn’t allowed to get wages during the internship.
  However, the judgement in 1947 and the above six criteria are so vague that there are still many legal disputes in the U.S.
With the help of an internship, young people can directly experience the work of the field in which they are interested, and thereby they can get a lot of knowledge and experience about the work. In this regard, it is clear that the unpaid internships have a lot of advantages, but there are still many problems that cannot be solved immediately. There should be many improvements in the unpaid internships. If you are a college student who is looking for a job, you need to think deeply of what you are willing to do in the future and choose the right internship.

By Hong Ye-ha
yh37@cbnu.ac.kr